[Translator - Jjescus ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
Chapter: 166
The chief walked ahead.
At first, I thought we were heading to his house, but I realized we were going sowhere else.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
The chief replied without turning around, "You’ll see soon enough. I just want to show you sothing, so follow a little longer."
The path beca increasingly rough, but the chief’s pace was steady. It was as if she had walked this path countless tis.
After walking for so ti, we reached the outskirts of the village, near the dense forest.
From a certain point, the ground was uneven, with scattered rocks and small puddles.
Moss grew sparsely on the bumpy dirt path, and tall weeds and small shrubs grew thickly along the roadside. The branches on either side of the path intertwined and swayed.
It was clearly not a path that was frequently used, so we were definitely going outside the village. I rembered the village eting where they said they would form a night watch, but I still couldn't figure out where the chief was taking .
The chief pushed through the dense bushes and walked deeper into the forest. As her fingertips brushed against the leaves, a small tremor spread through the still air.
Soon, our destination ca into view. There were old, rough wooden poles standing there. Just wooden poles.
The poles bore the marks of ti, and the lower parts were blackened and cracked, as if they had endured for centuries.
Ropes were tied between the poles, and colorful cloth scraps were tangled and swaying on the ropes.
Was it the wind? The way the cloth scraps fluttered was almost as if they were alive.
The chief casually raised her hand and placed her finger on one of the pole's markings, and for a mont, the area around it rippled.
Was it my imagination? But there was definitely a heavy, strange energy.
Still calm, the chief murmured, "This is one of our defense lines. It’s a place that the night watch must learn."
The chief added an explanation, "And this is a spell that pacifies the monsters in this area."
That's why the monsters I had seen before were much less ferocious.
"Who created this spell?"
Usually, even powerful noble clans only passed down one or two spells.
And even in families with a history of less than a hundred years, most didn't have any enchanted objects, let alone spells.
The fact that the Baek clan of Blood Cloud Fortress was not a weak clan, yet there were no enchanted objects in their possession, was proof of this.
So it was hard to believe that the chief had created this spell. It must have been passed down. It would be miraculous for a small village like this to produce soone talented enough to create a spell.
"What do you an?" The chief frowned.
"I asked because it doesn’t seem like it appeared overnight,” I replied calmly, but the chief didn't hide her displeasure. She seed rather annoyed by my curiosity.
"You don't seem to know much about magic."
Realizing that the chief was testing , I replied honestly, "Yes, I don’t know anything about magic. But I heard that anyone can learn magic if they train for a long ti. It’s just that it takes almost a lifeti of dedication, so not everyone can do it."
Turning her head, the chief cleaned away fallen leaves from the ropes between the trees.
"That’s not entirely wrong. If you’re just learning to use an existing spell, then yes."
"Are you different, Chief?"
The chief didn’t answer. Did she not hear , or was she ignoring ?
Confused, I was about to ask again when the chief finally replied.
"That's right. I'm different."
The chief, who had been staring at the ropes, turned to look at . "I thought you knew a little bit about magic."
I realized then that the chief was looking not at my face, but at my side. I imdiately rembered putting the dagger enchanted by Soldier Do there.
I hadn't thought I would be caught, but it turned out I had been discovered long ago without realizing it.
There was no point in lying to the chief now.
"Actually, it doesn't belong to . I got it from soone I know..."
"There's a terrible sll coming from it."
The chief stared at intently. Her gaze felt like a demand to show her the dagger, so I fumbled in my pocket and pulled out the dagger enchanted by Soldier Do.
"It does sll a little..."
The chief muttered. It didn't seem like she was speaking to .
"I want to know about the person who gave it to you,” The chief said suddenly.
Usually, I was the one asking questions, so I was a little surprised when the chief asked sothing.
Besides, it was difficult to reveal information about Soldier Do. Of course, even if the chief found out everything about Soldier Do, nothing much would happen...
But wasn't this a matter of loyalty?
"I can't do that."
I had already said that I wouldn't carelessly spread the stories the chief had told . If I were to talk about other people's business, how could she trust ? That was another reason.
The chief looked displeased but didn't probe further.
"Did the person who gave you this dagger also have supernatural abilities?"
If so, Soldier Do wouldn't have lived such a miserable life as I had heard. I shook my head.
"No, they don't."
But I added, "However, they were from a noble family that had once used supernatural powers as a weapon."
The chief's eyes widened.
"I see... I wasn't wrong."
Suddenly, the chief ca closer and grabbed my arm. I hadn't expected the chief to approach , so I took a step back in surprise. The chief's expression was very awkward, which made nervous.
"Can I et this person?"
"...Maybe it's possible. But first, I need to return to my original place to bring the sorcerer who cast this spell."
When I replied like that, the chief's expression changed imdiately.
"No, you can't."
"...Are you saying it's impossible for to return to my holand? Or..."
I smiled awkwardly.
"Are you unhappy that I'm leaving the village?"
The chief was speechless.
The chief looked at the ropes between the trees for a while, then coughed as a cold wind blew.
Her back trembled with each dry cough.
"...Anyway, I think I should go back now. It's getting cold."
"Yes, you should. Let's go back."
The chief turned around first.
I followed the chief back to the village, continuing to stare at the ropes tied to the trees.
The branches, tangled by the occasional wind, cast long shadows in the darkness beneath the dense leaves, and the thin ropes, where they were tied, swayed in the breeze, pulling and pushing the surrounding energy.
I felt a vague, intangible energy ripple, and the entire scene seed distant and hazy.
When I kept looking back, the chief frowned and urged to hurry.
"What's so interesting about that?"
"Well, I just... I can look, can't I? You're being so stingy."
But the chief's pace was still much slower than mine, so it was a pointless urging.
The way back seed shorter than the way there. Perhaps it was because I was no longer unfamiliar with the path.
As soon as we arrived at the village, Aro ran towards us. She had been loitering near the path and had drawn circles on the ground with her toes.
"Uncle!"
Instead of running towards her grandmother, the chief, she ran towards . The chief looked at Aro with a puzzled expression, as if she had also witnessed sothing strange.
"Uncle, Uncle! Co here quickly!"
Aro grabbed my clothes and pulled towards sothing. She was surprisingly strong. Of course, just because a child half my size was pulling didn't an I was going to move.
When I didn't budge, Aro frowned, looking annoyed.
"Uncle Osang keeps calling you a liar, you know."
"What?"
"He said you said you caught a monster by yourself, but he keeps calling you a liar."
It seed like she had told Osang this story, and he didn't believe this kid.
So what was I supposed to do? Was she telling to go fight Osang?
But I couldn't start a fight before I even got to know the villagers. I looked at the chief for help.
However, the chief shook her head, as if she wasn't interested, and imdiately turned towards her house.
So she wasn't interested. She would just do what she needed to do and then disappear...
Maybe she would call again if she needed sothing or wanted to ask sothing. And then she wouldn't answer my questions.
"Hurry up! Hurry up and follow ."
Aro didn't give up and kept tugging at my clothes. This was awkward. Even though I was leaving soon, I would have to live with the villagers for a while.
I wondered how things would turn out, what the secret the chief was keeping but refusing to tell was, and how I could learn the spell that weakened or repelled monsters.
Those were the most important things, but while I was staying here, I didn't want to cause trouble with the other villagers.
After a mont's thought, I bent down and picked up Aro.
"Uncle, you are strong. You can go punish Uncle Osang too."
Surely she wouldn't want to start a fight. It was just a kid throwing a tantrum.
"Where are we going?"
"Over there!"
She seed happier now that I was carrying her. She pointed in a direction and shouted, her voice higher. I started walking.
[Translator - Jjescus ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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