Chronicles of the Silver Dragon, Episode 7
“Mister! Give me all the tasty stuff!”
Jehwa strode into the inn, brazenly claimed a corner table, and shouted boldly.
The innkeeper let out a deep sigh and cuffed Jehwa on the head.
“Ow! Why’d you hit me!”
“You brat! You blew all the money you earned not long ago, so why are you here yapping about tasty food again!”
“Oof! I brought my wallet today!”
At the innkeeper’s scolding, Jehwa pointed to one side and shouted back. The innkeeper’s gaze turned in the direction he pointed.
“Who might you be……”
He was a native of the village. As far as he knew, he had never laid eyes on a woman of such beauty in the village before.
At the innkeeper’s question, Sawolrin made a blank expression, then started in surprise and answered.
“I-I’m just a traveler.”
At her words, the owner’s gaze naturally drifted to her waist.
‘Is she a martial artist……’
She looked like a beautiful young lady on the outside, but if she was a martial artist, one must not underestimate such a lady.
‘Could she be…… from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?’
The only martial faction near Tianshan in the Xinjiang region was the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Even though he was just a country bumpkin who had grown up knowing nothing in some backwater corner of Xinjiang, he knew full well how terrifying the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was.
‘Jehwa, you little rascal! What are you going to do if this causes big trouble!’
The innkeeper looked at Jehwa with a worried expression, but whether he knew the owner’s concerns or not, he just whined for them to bring out the food.
“You don’t have much money?”
“I have a fair bit……”
“How much is ‘a fair bit’?”
When Jehwa squinted his eyes and asked, Sawolrin flinched at that gaze and pulled a silver coin from her bosom, handing it to the innkeeper.
“Bring out the most expensive dishes at this inn. And good liquor, too.”
The innkeeper, who had been gaping at the rare silver coin, nodded urgently at her words and ran to the kitchen. Jehwa’s eyes also widened.
“Is that a silver coin?”
Having seen nothing more than iron coins at best, he couldn’t help but be quite surprised.
In truth, if he went to a big city to sell tiger skins and meat, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to see silver coins. But this place was a small mountain village. Even if he had tiger skins and meat, not a single person here could afford to buy them at a fair price. In the end, he only got a slightly higher price for tiger meat and skins than ordinary ones.
Jehwa, too, only caught animals that happened to appear before his eyes; he had never once wandered around trying to hunt animals down. It was simply the bad luck of the animals that caught his eye—on days when he saw no animals, he didn’t bother catching any.
Watching Jehwa make an expression of wonder as he looked at the silver coin, Sawolrin made a dumbstruck expression. The atmosphere was so different that she doubted whether the cruel boy from just moments ago and the boy before her now were the same person.
“You’re rich.”
When Jehwa spoke with sparkling eyes, Sawolrin laughed awkwardly. She could feel her tension fading because of his behavior.
Only then could Sawolrin properly observe him.
‘I thought he was quite pretty…… but he’s even prettier than me?’
Another reason she was called the Mahwa was her beautiful appearance. Her looks were so beautiful that there was no woman prettier than her within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. But for a man to possess looks even prettier than her own……
‘Is he really a man?’
As this went on, she began to gradually suspect it, but she couldn’t muster the courage to ask Jehwa if he was a girl. Why would she ask such a question when he might turn neurotic and rush at her to kill her again for no reason? It was better for her health to just keep her mouth firmly shut.
However, there wasn’t just one or two things she was curious about, and it felt awkward to just keep waiting for the food in silence, so Sawolrin cautiously asked.
“Um…… how old are you?”
At her question, Jehwa stared at her, tilted his head once, then answered.
“Probably around eighteen?”
“You’re younger than me?”
“How old are you then?”
“Nineteen.”
“…….”
At those words, Jehwa spoke with an indifferent expression.
“Well, you do look older. You look old.”
‘H-how dare he!’
Sawolrin fumed inwardly at his words but didn’t show it on her face.
“But…… you said ‘probably’?”
“People say I’m the child of the Snow Woman. I…… don’t have parents. I was just here from the moment I first had memories. I was around five years old on the outside back then? Anyway, since I don’t know my exact age, I roughly guessed it to be around eighteen.”
“I see……”
Sawolrin nodded at his words.
Hair and pupils that held a faint, silvery sheen. Especially his eyes—they sparkled so brightly that they were incredibly beautiful. If he had such hair and eye colors, it was understandable that ignorant villagers would wonder if he was the child of a Snow Woman.
As the atmosphere grew somewhat heavy, Sawolrin asked Jehwa, hoping to brighten the mood.
“Wh-what kind of martial arts did you learn to be so strong?”
“Martial arts?”
“Yeah.”
At her words, Jehwa widened his round eyes and asked back. Sawolrin nodded at him. But the answer that came back was truly something else.
“Why would I learn something like that? If I just throw punches and kicks, they fall away on their own.”
“What?”
Sawolrin made a blank expression at Jehwa’s words.
What was this punk in front of her blabbering about? That he hadn’t learned anything? Those fists and feet he had swung just earlier were just random punches and kicks? Did that make any sense?
“D-did you really not learn any martial arts?”
“Why do you need stuff like that to fight? The basics of fighting are punches and kicks. If you have a weapon, you just swing it.”
“…….”
It wasn’t entirely wrong, but there was no way he could fight martial artists who had learned systematic martial arts with just that, was there?
“Th-then what about your heart method? You were using internal energy earlier…… what kind of heart method did you learn?”
“Heart method?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that…… something you eat?”
“…….”
A cold wind seemed to blow through the inn.
To Sawolrin, the punk in front of her was absolutely, absolutely not joking. He was speaking with one-hundred-and-twenty-percent sincerity.
“You didn’t learn martial arts…… you didn’t even learn a heart method?”
“So I’m asking what that is.”
When Jehwa scrunched up his face, Sawolrin quickly said.
“It’s just…… something completely useless.”
It was an utterly shocking statement that would make any martial artist foam at the mouth if they heard it.
Jehwa stared at her for a moment, then turned his attention to the food the innkeeper was bringing out. Watching him, Sawolrin cautiously opened her mouth again.
“Then…… how were you using internal energy?”
“Internal energy?”
At her question, Jehwa blinked his large, cute eyes and tilted his head.
If one said they felt an innocent, simpleminded beauty from that face, would that be nonsense?
‘He’s cute……’
Sawolrin, who had been blankly muttering inwardly as she looked at him, was startled and shook her head wildly. The boy before her was cruel enough to kill a person while smiling. He didn’t feel an ounce of guilt about killing people. She shouldn’t be swayed by the appearance of someone so pure yet so chilling.
When Sawolrin suddenly shook her head back and forth, Jehwa scrunched up his face.
“I asked what internal energy is, so why are you suddenly shaking your head and acting crazy? Is it something I shouldn’t know?”
Sawolrin quickly explained internal energy in response.
“Internal energy is the ‘qi’ that lies dormant within the body. It’s also called internal power. Martial artists use it to fight. A heart method is what gathers such internal energy.”
“Hmmm…… I see.”
Nodding, Jehwa lifted his chopsticks.
“Like this?”
In an instant, a powerful energy surged into his hand, and along with it, the chopsticks he was holding exploded.
Crack!
“Ack!”
Startled by the sudden splinters flying everywhere, Jehwa jumped up from his seat.
‘Wh-what the……’
That was a phenomenon that occurred when one infused their internal energy into wood but couldn’t control it freely. But unless one was a third-rate or second-rate warrior, there was no way they couldn’t control internal energy infused into wooden chopsticks. It wasn’t at the level of a supreme master, but if one reached at least first-rate, they could control their internal energy to some degree.
In Sawolrin’s eyes, Jehwa was absolutely not some first-rate warrior. He was an incredible expert who had effortlessly felled at least three supreme masters—a realm she couldn’t even dare to guess at with her level. But such an unfathomable expert couldn’t control even a bit of his internal energy?
‘I-is he doing that on purpose? But why? He really looked surprised……’
As Sawolrin’s head grew complicated with various thoughts, Jehwa calmed his startled heart and muttered.
“Whew, that surprised me. So this happens when you inject it into other things by mistake?”
Jehwa scratched his head.
Wasn’t this exactly the appearance of someone using internal energy for the very first time?
“Um…… you can’t control it delicately?”
“What?”
“Your internal energy.”
“Ah…… so this is what you call internal energy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Heeh, so this is what you call internal energy.”
As Jehwa nodded as if he finally understood, Sawolrin made a confused expression and cautiously asked.
“You talk like it’s your first time using it?”
“Yeah, it was my first time.”
“What?”
Sawolrin made a dumbfounded expression at Jehwa’s words.
“Actually, when I was fighting the strongest of those guys earlier, this energy suddenly surged out from my heart. It felt comfortable while fighting. I learned to use it by watching those guys fight. This is the first time I’ve used something called internal energy.”
Sawolrin made a blank expression at Jehwa’s words. She absolutely did not believe him. No, she couldn’t believe him.
Did that make any sense? A person who had never used internal energy in his life suddenly obtained it, and even if he couldn’t control it delicately, he could use it freely enough to draw it out at will? And he hadn’t learned martial arts, let alone a heart method. If she told this story to others, she would be treated like a crazy woman on the spot.
‘I don’t believe it at all. He’s definitely lying.’
Sawolrin’s mind was gradually growing more chaotic because of this unfathomable guy. Judging by the atmosphere, it looked like once he finished eating, he would simply let her go.
Jehwa—a boy who was so pure yet so cruel, completely untainted by the dust of the world—caused great ripples in the heart of Mahwa Sawolrin.