Chapter 9: Mangjo has already begun

Fortunately, the assassins or annoying guys from the cult didn’t come after that,

And so, about half a month had passed since I came to Raylin and Sei-lin’s home.

Since first arriving and assessing Raylin and Sei-lin’s abilities,

I had been consistently helping the sisters with their training.

They were overflowing with talent, and they trusted my words and followed passionately, making teaching them incredibly rewarding.

“Alright, focus again. Imagine gathering mana only on the blade of the sword. You need to make the mana sharp first to maximize its destructive power.”

“Hmph…”

“Good, you’re doing well. Now, as you swing, release that sharply gathered mana along with the swing.”

“Ugh…”

“Don’t overthink it. Like hitting a ball with a stick at the precise moment to send it far in a game of catch, hit it at the exact moment. Alright, begin!”

“Haap!”

Sei-lin swung her sword with all her might, accompanied by a shout.

However, the sword energy emanating from Sei-lin’s sword dissipated after only a few meters.

Sei-lin looked at the spot where the sword energy vanished, her shoulders slumping slightly,

and I comforted her.

“You can’t be good at it from the start. In fact, it’s amazing that any sword energy came out at all, even if it was weak, don’t you think?”

“But if it’s like this…”

“Don’t worry. If you practice the fundamentals more diligently, you’ll be able to use sword energy much more proficiently. In that sense, let’s go back to practicing swinging with mana wrapped around your sword. Don’t wrap it around the entire sword; just focus on strengthening the blade.”

“Yes!”

As if her disappointment at the underwhelming sword energy was a lie,

Sei-lin quickly regained her enthusiasm and began practicing her swings.

With such dedication, there was no way teaching them wouldn’t be enjoyable.

As I watched Sei-lin’s posture with a satisfied expression, Raylin’s voice drifted from a distance.

“Master! It’s a new record!”

Looking towards the sound, Raylin was smiling brightly and bouncing up and down in place.

It seemed her mana concentration training, which I had assigned, was showing results.

As I started to walk towards Raylin to check,

Sei-lin stopped swinging her sword and looked at me with a subtle expression.

However, I was already accustomed to Sei-lin’s expressions.

“Sei-lin, you can swing it a hundred times while I’m gone, right?”

“Of course.”

“Amazing as expected. I’ll be back then.”

Sei-lin smiled faintly and began swinging her sword diligently again.

Leaving Sei-lin behind, I walked towards Raylin,

and found myself marveling at how quickly I had grown accustomed to the sisters.

When we dueled in the cult’s training ground, the circumstances were such that I hadn’t really noticed, but

Raylin and Sei-lin had personalities as divided as their mansion.

Raylin, the elder sister with golden hair falling to her shoulder blades, was even more lively than I had imagined.

She wasn’t so lively as to be a tomboy, but

her personality was gentle and cheerful, much like the free-spirited appearance of the mansion.

Though she occasionally showed a naive charm, it wasn’t overly serious,

and she was the type to stick close like a puppy, wanting affection.

When I asked if she wasn’t different from when she came to defeat me, she claimed she was just nervous back then.

In contrast, Sei-lin, with her straight silver hair reaching her hips, had a personality closer to that of a cat.

She was more composed in everything than her sister and a bit more rigid,

a haughty beauty who always wished to be perfect.

However, there were times when that facade would break,

such as when I showed an impressive feat or praised her.

Each time, Sei-lin would quickly blush and smile dazedly.

And her attempts to return to her usual self after realizing her expression were also cute.

The only minor issue was that both of them liked me too much.

“Look!”

As I walked, lost in thought, I suddenly arrived in front of Raylin,

and Raylin immediately demonstrated her mana concentration for me.

Her mana concentration was stable, so it wasn’t a lie that she’d set a new record.

Raylin gathered mana to its peak, and just before it burst and scattered, she instantly formed it into a bullet and fired it,

and after seeing the mana bullet embed and explode on the mountainside, she smiled at me.

“How is it? How is it?”

“That’s amazing, isn’t it? I can’t believe you’re the same person as half a month ago.”

“Right? I’m the best, aren’t I?”

Raylin’s smiling remark wasn’t merely a desire for affirmation,

but a subtle question hinting if she wasn’t better than Sei-lin.

In this way, Raylin and Sei-lin kept subtly competing with each other.

Sei-lin’s subtle look at me earlier was also a part of this.

Thanks to this, I, caught in the middle, felt like I was walking a tightrope.

“Not the best yet. You still can’t beat me, can you?”

“Hmph… Someday, I’ll definitely knock you down, Deron.”

“Is that the right choice of words? Anyway, you still have a long way to go. Keep working hard.”

“Isn’t there a way to become strong all at once? Come to think of it, I heard fragments of heroes from the chaotic ancient times, which can make one instantly strong, are scattered across the continent…”

At Raylin’s words, I smiled faintly and moved like lightning behind her, then gave her a playful tap on the back of her head.

Even though I tried to control my strength, Raylin tumbled forward from the unexpected attack.

“Trying to use shortcuts? You haven’t even learned the proper methods yet.”

“Ugh…”

Raylin slowly got up, brushed off her clothes, and looked at me with an expression that said I was being unfair,

“Pfft.”

Sei-lin, who had been watching, chuckled softly from a distance.

****

After that day’s training, the sisters and I went down to the village to buy groceries.

Though it was a small village, it had everything necessary, so there was no problem buying groceries.

“How about chicken for dinner tonight?”

“We haven’t had chicken in a while, so wouldn’t pork be better?”

“I don’t know. We’ll decide after seeing the condition of the meat.”

While wandering through the market, discussing what to have for dinner,

“~!@#$%^&@!!!”

the sound of someone shouting obscenities could be heard from somewhere.

Judging by the tone of the voice, it seemed like someone was picking fights with anyone they could find.

As I furrowed my brows at the voice piercing my ears, Sei-lin spoke to me.

“He must be heavily drunk again today. He wasn’t like this before, but he’s been acting like this lately. He’ll quiet down soon, so don’t worry too much about it.”

“Is he acting like that because of alcohol?”

“Probably. There’s nothing else to suspect, is there?”

However, even after hearing Sei-lin’s words, I couldn’t ignore it.

It wasn’t just because the voice echoing in my ears was unpleasant,

but because I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to it.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I said to Raylin and Sei-lin,

“Will you two keep shopping for a bit?”

“Where are you going? We want to come too.”

“I think I need to go to the restroom… Are you coming with me?”

“G-go ahead.”

Leaving the sisters behind, I pretended to walk towards the restroom but headed towards where the loud noises were coming from.

At the source of the noise, where I finally arrived, a man was, as I expected, picking fights with passersby.

“What are you looking at?! Get out! Get out of this world, all of you! You idiotic bastards!”

The man’s appearance, staggering around, spitting, and cursing, was clearly not normal at first glance.

As I walked straight towards the man, he noticed me and started picking a fight with me too.

“What are you?! Get lost! Do you want to die?! You’re not even worth a punch!”

The man raised his fist high as if to threaten me,

and I grabbed his wrist, swung him around, and slammed him moderately onto the ground.

“Cough!”

“Unfortunately, I can’t tolerate being ignored.”

As I released the man’s wrist and dusted off my hands, the man trembled and muttered.

“It hurts… I need more… more… more…”

Hearing the man’s words, I closed my eyes and sighed.

As expected, the man wasn’t drunk.

Because there was no smell of alcohol, which would have been present if he were drunk.

Instead, I only detected a faint but all too familiar scent.

“Alright… let’s see who this guy is…”

I began following the man’s footprints.

Even though there weren’t many traces left, it wasn’t difficult at all for me, who used to do this kind of thing all the time.

Tracing back as quickly as possible, the man’s footprints led to a small, abandoned house.

‘So he got the stuff from somewhere, inhaled it in this abandoned house, got high, and then caused a disturbance.’

I entered the abandoned house to search for any more information that might be there.

Inside the abandoned house, there were many traces of the powder made by the heretics.

There were remnants left from inhalation,

and the hazy smell permeated throughout the furniture.

Covering my nose, I looked around and spotted something, examining it closely.

“This is…”

It was a small token indicating that this was the heretics’ territory.

Most were things difficult for ordinary people to notice, like small stones or seemingly ordinary books,

but they couldn’t escape my eyes.

“So they’re even leaving things like this?”

They have a lot of nerve.

Even if they didn’t know I was here, this is practically provoking me.

How dare they do such a thing near where I am?

Just you wait. I’ll find you no matter where you are.

Leaving the abandoned house, I resumed tracking the traces,

and they led into a secluded nearby forest.

Heading to a secret place where no one would come, I felt more excited than worried.

I hadn’t been able to properly exert my strength for quite some time, focusing only on the sisters’ training,

and if it was someone selling such trashy goods, I could beat them with all my might.

At the thought of finally being able to stretch my itching hands, I practically ran, following the man’s footprints.

What finally entered my vision as I scoured my surroundings with keen eyes was,

a person cloaked entirely in black clothing,

who was about to leave with the payment given by the man who had caused the disturbance.

“Who are you?”

Judging by the voice, it seemed to be a man,

but he seemed more annoyed than wary of me.

“I’m not selling any more of the goods. I don’t know where you heard the rumors, but go back…”

“How dare you go around doing such things. Have you lost your mind?”

As I loosened my hands and spoke, the person in black looked at me for a moment,

then burst into laughter.

“Ha! Are you saying you’re going to punish me?”

“Yep.”

“You’re overstepping your bounds. Do you even know how many allies I have behind me? You think you’re some kind of Inquisitor!”

The man said, scoffing at me.

Hearing his words, I didn’t answer loudly,

but merely curled my lips into a quiet smile.