Episode 246: An Unwanted Companion. (2)
The front lines.
A land that had died because it could not properly deal with the Demonic Gates.
Now transformed into a habitat for demonic creatures.
Moreover, it was also a land endlessly withering away due to the continuously opening Demonic Gates.
So all the more puzzling was this.
How could there be a lush forest behind such a withered plain?
With the land being so vast, having died without a single drop of water remaining, how could such a verdant forest be maintained upon such earth?
Many harbored this question, but they did not bother to pry further.
For generations, by order of the Alliance, they could not come and go freely in the forest, and because one needed the Gu Clan's permission to enter it.
Is it not absurd?
The Martial Alliance, which commands and leads countless sects, yet on the front lines alone needed the Gu Clan's permission.
In other words, it was practically the Alliance itself implicitly acknowledging that the forest of the front lines was the Gu Clan's territory.
'That's why I had to come and go from here until I was sick of it.'
Management of the forest had to be handled by the bloodline of the Gu Clan.
To the point that originally, the Five Swords Unit that Gu Huibi belonged to had been in charge of it. When I took the seat of Young Clan Lord, I inherited it.
Would this life be so different?
Probably not.
As long as I didn't run away without taking the Young Clan Lord's seat, this part wouldn't change.
Damn it all.
Crunch.
I slowly moved my steps, treading on branches.
It was a night where the moonlight had fully risen.
If going by the time, it would be around the break of dawn.
'I wish I could return by morning, though.'
The path to the center was not exactly peaceful.
To begin with, not only had a proper path not been cleared, but this was a place where merely entering and exiting in this manner was itself a burden.
[Growl...]
A suppressed whimper was heard.
It seemed to be sizing up whether I knew I was doing this chore because of it.
'I should really get rid of it.'
[Grr.]
The whimper that came once more felt filled with certainty that such a thing could not happen.
Irritatingly.
Leaving that fellow behind, I let out a deep sigh.
These days, it felt like sighs were increasing all too much.
Whoosh.
The wind blew.
Summer was approaching, but the night wind was still cold, and I found myself needlessly worried about the woman following behind me.
"Hey, you..."
As I spoke softly and turned around, I met eyes with the woman.
It seemed she had been looking at me from the start.
"Yes..."
Moyong Huia's cheeks were a bit red as she answered briefly.
Was she cold?
It wasn't weather cold enough for that, but given her physical condition, it was possible. For even at a glance, Moyong Huia was wearing thick clothes ill-suited for the season.
Frowning slightly at that, I grabbed and pulled Moyong Huia's wrist.
"Ah...!"
Perhaps due to the sudden contact, Moyong Huia's eyes widened as if startled, but without minding it, I infused heat into the hand I held.
Perhaps because the body's heat entered, Moyong Huia slightly twisted her body.
Looking at such a Moyong Huia, I asked.
"Why did you follow me?"
"...Yeolhyeopgeom—"
"Don't use that guy as an excuse. Do I look like that much of a fool?"
When I cut her off mid-sentence, Moyong Huia turned her head away from me.
This time, not just her cheeks but even her ears were red.
Was she embarrassed too?
"It's strange that he's taking a break and not coming. He wouldn't have asked you to fill in because he couldn't find anyone else."
"...You're only quick-witted at times like this."
"What?"
"Nothing."
The atmosphere around Moyong Huia, which had been like a well-honed blade, for some reason felt increasingly crumbling as time passed.
She was a woman who was incredibly thorough when deceiving someone or hiding herself, yet why did she seem so foolish these days?
"...I didn't use any particular trick. I simply asked."
"You asked?"
"I merely asked 'politely' if I couldn't go instead. Yeolhyeopgeom accepted."
"That's... nonsense. No matter how I look at it."
Did he know what would happen to him if he sent her instead when he got back? Gu Jeolyeop might have his shortcomings, but he wouldn't be such a fool.
As I looked at Moyong Huia with suspicious eyes, Moyong Huia, who had been avoiding my gaze, lightly bit her lip.
"...Why don't you just pretend not to know and go with me?"
"Now you're even being shameless?"
"Isn't it actually more convenient for the Young Lord to go with me?"
What was that supposed to mean?
Why would going with Moyong Huia be convenient for me?
As I tried to express my doubt, Moyong Huia gave the answer.
"Fewer rather than many, and if possible, alone."
" "
"Isn't this the part the Young Lord wishes for?"
At Moyong Huia's words, I momentarily lost my words.
She had been acting flustered and foolish, yet at times like these, her eyes were sharp.
'I don't know which tune to dance to.'
Anyway, she was a woman I couldn't let my guard down around.
How did she notice?
Checking the state of the center wasn't that difficult an act.
Strangely, because the number of demonic creatures decreased as one went toward the center, one merely had to roughly check what was inside and come out.
In fact, when Gu Huibi moved personally, she tended to go with a small number of people. Because that was more convenient.
'Though my intention is a bit different.'
In my case, even when I brought Gu Jeolyeop and Muyeon, I only went with them on the way there and had no intention of going together from the entrance.
It was better than showing them things I couldn't show.
To begin with, those not of the bloodline couldn't enter anyway, but the current problem was Moyong Huia.
"What do you gain by doing this?"
Taking Gu Jeolyeop's annoying place. I didn't know about Muyeon, but this too was likely because Moyong Huia had pulled strings, so those two were probably going up.
What did Moyong Huia gain by doing that?
"You're asking what I gain?"
At my question, Moyong Huia's sky-blue pupils turned toward me, and brushing her reddened cheeks, she gave an answer.
"Time."
"Time?"
It was an unexpected answer.
To think she was gaining time.
Looking at the wrist I was still holding, Moyong Huia continued her words.
"Time I can spend like this with you."
"...What?"
"Do you know what I hated the most?"
What Moyong Huia hated the most?
"Wasting emotions needlessly. Struggling and longing despite gaining nothing. I hated such things."
In the coldly spat-out words, faint emotion seeped in.
"It's futile. Because it changes and ruins people. My father too was ruined because of my mother."
In her voice saying 'because of' without a moment's hesitation, I felt something paradoxically shaky.
If speaking of Moyong Huia's mother, would that be the North Sea Princess?
Moyong Huia's words were something I agreed with to a certain extent.
How frightening it is to be swayed by emotions.
I knew better than anyone.
"But absurdly."
The corners of Moyong Huia's mouth, which had been continuing her words, rose slightly.
The woman who seemed like a human made entirely of ice smiled.
"When I noticed, I realized I was doing just that."
Slip.
The wrist I held slipped out.
It was Moyong Huia who pulled it out by her own strength.
"But having tried it, it wasn't so bad."
"You..."
"So this is also something important to me."
Her words carried weight.
The words Moyong Huia spoke to me, that is.
'...Why?'
That she was showing affection for me right now was something even a fool could tell.
The problem was why she was acting this way toward me right now.
'Were we too close?'
With the agreement that I had to provide heat, every few weeks, or sometimes every few days—could that have been the problem?
Just as all sorts of thoughts came to mind, a small laugh was heard.
It was Moyong Huia laughing.
With something so amusing, she covered her mouth and giggled.
"I knew the Young Lord would make that expression upon hearing this."
Kyu,
"I did not say this asking for an answer. I was merely asking you to catch on. Since you are quite slow to catch on."
Moyong Huia moved her steps and passed before me.
A faint scent wafted and a shallow chill was felt.
"I know it must be burdensome."
Each and every word pricked at my heart.
Leaving me nowhere to run.
"Even so. Even that burden was necessary for me."
Having spat out those last words, Moyong Huia took another step forward.
As I stood blankly like a stone statue struck by lightning, watching her back, she turned slightly and spoke to me.
"Hurry up. We can't be late."
Seeing her walking calmly as if nothing had happened, I was the one who ended up flustered instead.
Perhaps...
...this was the most bewildering day among everything that had happened this year.
Afterward, without exchanging a word, we walked through the forest and arrived at the desired location before we knew it.
Honestly, I thought I would die from the awkwardness.
Moyong Huia appeared unfazed.
What kind of personality does she really have?
I was at the point where my head was spinning and I couldn't come to my senses, yet Moyong Huia was instead incomparably calm.
'...Let's just ignore it for now.'
There was something to do right away, so I couldn't focus on Moyong Huia.
Honestly, I couldn't completely ignore it either.
But what could I do?
When we reached the entrance before long, Moyong Huia stopped her steps.
"Please go and come back."
"...Y-yeah."
As if she had expected this, she looked as though she would wait at the entrance.
I had been about to tell her to wait here anyway.
She had caught on like a ghost.
In a forest teeming with so many demonic creatures, I wondered if it was okay to leave her alone at night, but being this close to the center, demonic creatures were rather few.
No, one could say there were none.
I didn't know the reason.
I only knew that it had been that way since long ago.
Leaving Moyong Huia behind, I slowly moved my feet toward the entrance.
Then.
Wooong—
Upon entering, a small ringing sound was heard.
It was the recoil felt when passing through a formation.
This was similar in principle to the barrier embedded beneath the Gu Clan.
'It's amazing every time I see it.'
The very fact that it was made to allow passage by recognizing those of the bloodline was a formation that couldn't be found anywhere even now.
I had heard that if one wasn't of the bloodline, they'd be bounced off with a thud.
I knew there was actually recoil, since I had seen another person experience it.
'I wonder if Gu Jeolyeop could cross over too.'
The thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Gu Jeolyeop was of a collateral branch, but he was indeed of the blood. If he wanted to cross, wouldn't he be able to?
'Surely it doesn't verify whether you're the clan head's child.'
What kind of formation isn't even a living being? I thought that might be too much.
The center was, as the words implied, the center of the forest.
As I slowly walked in, between the trees and bushes densely filling the area, was a circularly spread small plain, and in its center, a small pond caught my eye.
Far from being called the forest of the front lines, the spread-out scenery was beautiful.
It was a harmonious landscape to the point of wondering if it could have formed naturally.
When I focused with a distant gaze, something could be seen above the pond in the distance.
Floating there was something like the black Demonic Gate I had eliminated before.
'Of all places, it had to appear here.'
Should I call this good luck or bad luck?
'What good about it? It's terribly bad.'
Anyway, the fact that my luck was utterly terrible remained unchanged even as time passed.
[Grrr...]
The moment it was discovered, the thing inside my body reacted.
Go and devour it quickly, it said, howling that I should give it to it, to the point my whole body resonated.
'I'm going to give it to you anyway, so shut up.'
[Grr...]
Splash.
I slowly put my foot in the pond and approached the rift.
While approaching, a giant orb in the center of the pond caught my eye.
That was one of the reasons the Gu Clan monitored the center of this forest.
Checking whether it had fallen off that pillar-like pedestal, and whether any cracks had formed.
It was unharmed even by typhoons, so why did they keep coming to check?
I couldn't know.
Even if it was an order from the great house.
What the orb signified, what it was for, I didn't know, but it was something the progenitor of old had found and brought to this place.
And my father called that thing a seed.
No matter how I looked at it, it didn't look like a seed.
For starters, where would there be a seed that large?
'It seems there's no problem.'
Still, since I had come under the pretext of checking, I lightly inspected the orb, and fortunately, there still seemed to be no problem.
It seemed to be quite an important item.
The reason it was simply thrown here on the front lines and only checked was simple.
The barrier spread around it was so strong that to tear through and enter, one had to be at least the Heavenly Demon of the previous life.
'...Though he actually did tear through and come in.'
Seeing that even that Heavenly Demon had to use all his might to undo the barrier, it couldn't be a normal barrier.
'Why did he try to enter this place?'
In the previous life, the Heavenly Demon had tried to enter the center.
Not just here.
The Heavenly Demon had taken interest in the world's anomalies or variables and searched here and there, but I couldn't know why the Heavenly Demon took interest in such things.
And, as a result, the Heavenly Demon succeeded in entering this place but could not take this orb.
Should I say he couldn't?
No, it would be more correct to say he didn't take it.
Having torn through the barrier with great effort, the moment he saw the orb, he made an expression of losing interest.
—It is meaningless to me.
Those words were the end of it.
He made me do all the life-threatening work, and then...
"...Tch."
Having erased my thoughts about the orb, I slowly reached out and inserted my hand into the rift.
This time, just like before, as my hand went into the rift, the cracks in the void gradually began to diminish.
The gradually shrinking rift disappeared completely, and the void was left with nothing.
[Gulp.]
As if satisfied with this, the thing let out a belch.
"Are you full?"
[Growl.]
Ah....
Making me work myself to the bone in the dead of the night, and it's satisfied all by itself?
It really feels like raising a beast.
I don't particularly like raising animals.
I clicked my tongue repeatedly and closed my eyes.
'Is there anything different?'
I clenched and unclenched my hand repeatedly, trying to feel the difference in my body, but I still couldn't feel any difference.
Wouldn't it be fortunate if there was none?
Anyway, having finished the task without incident, I turned around to leave the pond immediately, but...
"...Hm?"
The orb I had seen earlier suddenly caught my eye.
The orb was in the same shape as before.
Only a few seconds had passed, so there shouldn't be any difference.
But for some reason, the orb stood out vividly.
'What is this?'
A strange feeling.
How should I put it. My fingertips were quite itchy.
A feeling that... I had to touch the orb. That kind of feeling.
For reference, there was no problem with touching the orb.
I had actually touched it several times.
Though I didn't understand the reason, I stared at the orb and reached out my hand.
It was to dispel this subtle feeling, and merely a simple thought that it had suddenly caught my eye, but at that moment.
[...Don't.]
Clench.
My outstretched hand stopped dead in the air before touching the orb.
Because the thing suddenly spoke to me.
The thing, which had been curled up as if sated, opened its eyes again as I tried to touch the orb.
'You said don't?'
[That... is... dangerous...]
I had to think carefully about the thing's words.
Because this was the first time it had shown such a reaction.
'Are you saying it's dangerous for you? Or dangerous for me?'
[...Both.]
Every time I asked something, it would shut its mouth and stay still like a mute, but now it felt like it was speaking urgently, afraid I might touch the orb.
Look at this guy?
[...Not yet. Not yet... don't.]
At the words spat out with difficulty, intermittently, my expression naturally furrowed.
What meaning was there in touching this?
I just had to not touch the orb.
But for some reason, I felt rebellious against the thing's words.
'What is this?'
The more I was told not to do something, the more I wanted to do it.
Was this an emotion that little brats would have?
But it felt a bit different from that.
It was like feeling thirsty.
A feeling that I wouldn't be alright unless I touched it.
It was not a good sensation.
Clench.
Unable to control my emotions in the end, I used my energy to suppress it.
It felt unpleasant to not touch just because the thing told me not to, but I too felt that it was dangerous.
[If you... eat... now... you'll explode.]
What would explode?
My body?
Or the orb?
"Hoo..."
Though I didn't know what, at the thing's warning brought up once more, I turned my body.
"Explain."
But I couldn't just return like that.
[Growl...]
"If there's no explanation that satisfies me. As you said, I'll recklessly touch it and blow up."
Should I not touch it just because it says don't touch?
My temper wasn't so accommodating as to live doing as I'm told.
So I had to listen.
About the reason I shouldn't.
At my firm words, I felt the area below my dantian gradually shaking.
Was the curled-up thing throwing a tantrum?
Thud! Thud!
A huge vibration was felt, but fortunately, it wasn't the intense pain like before.
Feeling the vibration and standing still, the dantian that had been shaking so finally began to calm down little by little, albeit only for a moment.
And.
[Seed...]
Whether because it realized it had no choice, the thing briefly spoke to me.
[The Seed of the Great Tree...]
The Seed of the Great Tree.
'...Huh?'
It was an extremely simple name.
It merely meant a great tree, but from the thing's words, a scene unknowingly flashed through my mind.
'No way.'
The day in the previous life when the later-generation disciples fell into the demonic realm en masse.
I was abandoned as bait and was being chewed and swallowed alive by countless demonic creatures, right on the verge of death.
The tree that appeared before my eyes, rising so high as to cover the sky.
For some reason, upon hearing the words 'Great Tree,' I recalled that tree.