**Chapter 83**
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**Accomplice Ⅰ**
**Sin No-a**
**1**
I faced 'Mugan,' the worst enemy—an Outcast God-level anomaly—but I didn't respond immediately.
Rather, I waited for the right moment to arrive.
For an Infinite Regressor, 'waiting' exists on a different dimension. Take the anger and anxiety you feel when you've definitely ordered food but the expected delivery time has exceeded by a whole 3 minutes—multiply that by roughly 13 times, and you have an Infinite Regressor's waiting. One could truly call it superhuman patience.
During this time, I focused on building my power as much as possible.
Did I train in martial arts? As if. As Old Man Sho said, my combat sense was closer to a beaver's. It would be troublesome to make light of a supporter's innate combat talents.
But even for someone like me—or rather, precisely because I am me—there remained a method to maximize my fighting power.
"Guild Master Nodo-ha."
"……."
Nodo-ha's expression was ordinary.
That is to say, this person's face being rotten was the default state, so even if it rotted further now, it would only add ordinariness to ordinariness.
"No, I haven't said anything yet, so why are you glaring at my face like you're looking at an asshole?"
"Because whenever you call me 'Nodo-ha Guild Master' instead of 'Nodo-ha Management Captain,' there's a considerably high probability you're about to spout some personal story……. And your personal pain and anger, venting, favors, 'I'm human' poses, signals that only I can recognize your humanity—in other words, all that dogshit doesn't evoke emotions above or below annoyance in me……."
"Nodo-ha Guild Master. Haven't you been working too much lately? I have some free time, so how about we go on a vacation together? A backpacking trip for just the two of us. Like college friends."
"This crazy bastard……."
"As expected. I knew you'd like it."
And so I departed on a trip with Nodo-ha.
If it were after the 380th iteration when 'Idea Ranch' was established, the two of us could have traveled friendly while riding dinosaurs (later on, that really happened), but unfortunately, the current point was still only the 100th iteration.
If I were alone, I would have used something like lightness arts to zoom forward, and if my companion were anyone other than Nodo-ha, I could have piggybacked them to enjoy the speed together.
The latter solution was rejected again when Nodo-ha said shyly, "Oh, if you wanted to personally witness my suicide, you should have said so earlier……." What a shy one.
Therefore, our means of transportation was inevitably extremely limited. The fact that I managed to find the best method even in such difficult circumstances proves my quality as a regressor.
Rattlerattlerattlerattle……
Nodo-ha rode atop the transportation, moving together with me while wearing an ordinary expression.
"Funeral Director Awakener……."
"Yes?"
"Is this really the best method……?"
"Yes."
Rattlerattlerattlerattle……
"Even if gas is scarce in this era, shouldn't there be something more plausible like a dump truck, or the National Highway Management Corps' power, or your miracle regressor power, or anything……? At least a bicycle……."
"Oh my, you're good at joking. We're traveling for personal reasons, so we shouldn't deplete the Management Corps' assets. We'll be going on rough roads too, so a bicycle would break quickly and be unusable."
Rattlerattlerattlerattle……
"Still, fuck……. No, really. Where the hell did you get this piece of shit yogurt cart? Huh?"
That's right.
Currently, the two of us were riding the world's first and only Fresh Manager-exclusive rideable refrigerator electric cart, the 3rd generation model—Coco (Cold&Cold) 3.0.
It was also called the 'Yogurt Lady Cart' by some. With its beautiful apricot-colored exterior, it was that ancient artifact that traveled between neighborhoods using instant movement techniques.
I took the handle, and Nodo-ha rode on top of the cart. I had specially modified it with a premium cushion attached, so there was no way his buttocks would hurt.
"Ah-ah. Please refrain from such foul language. This, despite its appearance, is a 'Yogurt Cart' anomaly."
"Huh? Anomaly……?"
"That's right. No matter how rugged the road, it climbs without trouble, and no matter how remote the village, it arrives steadfastly—a miraculous transportation. Guild Master Nodo-ha. Have you ever seen a yogurt cart broken down or damaged, spread out on the roadside?"
"Well, no, I haven't……."
"Exactly that. Most Koreans have only ever observed yogurt carts in 'somehow intact' condition. Even on terrain that seems physically impossible to traverse, this anomaly produces the result of 'somehow succeeded in moving' without a hitch."
"What kind of bullshit……?"
"Please observe."
Rattlerattlerattlerattle……
An asphalt road unfolded before our eyes. The cart advanced bravely on the paved road, so damaged it was hard to tell whether it was concrete or a crumbled cookie.
Thud, the cart wheel fell into a concrete step. Nodo-ha's expression darkened.
"Oh, it fell……."
But strangely enough, didn't the cart stick firmly to the concrete surface and return to a proper track?
"…en?"
Literally, its movement technique was different.
No matter how crumbled the concrete was, how messed up the tiles were, how bumpy the tree roots protruded, the yogurt cart only wobbled slightly and proceeded 'without any problem.'
Cars, of course, and even most people couldn't traverse such damaged national highways, but the yogurt cart ran well, teetering back and forth.
Truly the pinnacle of Korean engineering. An SSS-grade lost technology artifact.
"Hah? What kind of retarded……?"
"This is the Yogurt Cart anomaly. Guild Master. You may praise me."
"Wait, does this thing move without even charging electricity or anything……?"
"Yup. Furthermore, if you put beverages or food in the refrigerator Nodo-ha Guild Master is currently sitting on, they generally won't spoil. Even meat, if you put it in a yogurt-shaped container, lasts over a year."
"Good heavens. You fuck, if there was such a good thing, you should have informed the National Highway Management Corps right away instead of sitting around doing this backpacking trip cosplay. We need to collect carts from all over the country immediately and assign them to the Management Corps. In this shitty era, we could cause a logistics revolution, or no, use them as wheelchair substitutes for elderly people with mobility issues……."
"Ah. There's only one."
"……."
"I thought maybe mass production was possible, so I gathered relatively intact-looking carts and experimented, but this is the only one that exists as an 'anomaly.' So I just use it as my personal vehicle."
"Damn it……."
Anyway, the two-person party consisting of a shadowy schemer and a surface-level great demon king traveled safely.
Nodo-ha only grumbled verbally but enjoyed everything there was to enjoy. After all, I had lavishly stored meat, vegetables, and various carbohydrates in the refrigerator cart, taking them out at every meal to cook.
"Do you know something, Funeral Director Awakener……."
"What do you mean?"
"In my life, you're completely useless, but your cooking skills alone are national treasure level. If not for this, I really wouldn't have been treated like a human……."
"……?"
True to Nodo-ha, who had the four syllables 'workaholic' embedded in his DNA from birth, he must have experienced burnout symptoms unknowingly while operating the National Highway Management Corps.
As the enjoyable camping trip life extended for one day, two days, three days, Nodo-ha's face grew peaceful. The fatigue and grime stuck in his heart were being washed away.
I was this outstanding at comforting and caring for weary human hearts.
"Hey, you fucking regressor bastard. How long are you going to keep wandering around outside? If the Samcheon Guild Master finds out about this, huh? Do you really want to see me die that badly?"
"……?"
Finally, on the 6th day of travel, our exciting backpacking group arrived at the destination.
Taebaek Mountain Range. Jeongseon.
Facing what was once Korea's most famous mining region (now famous for something else), Nodo-ha made an utterly ordinary expression.
"What kind of backwater village is that……?"
"As you can see, it's a village."
A village had formed in the Jeongseon mines. But the terrain was quite peculiar.
A massive cave was hollowed out in the middle of a mountainside that dropped sharply like a cliff, and right there, village buildings had sprouted like mushrooms.
A mining village, you could call it. A feng shui arrangement that took only the first character from 'backed by mountains, facing water.'
"The houses are built of stone……?"
"They used fire-resistant material. Not a bad building material."
"The villagers seem abnormally short……?"
"In this era, having a large body just unnecessarily consumes more nutrition, so it's likely a result of convergent evolution."
"All the residents have thick beards growing……?"
"It's a means to maintain constant body temperature. Villagers with exceptional environmental adaptability, I see."
"No matter how I look, aren't they dwarves……?"
Hmm.
I nodded my head.
"Some people call them that. But 'dwarf' is a bit racially discriminatory, isn't it? Please use the term 'dwarf' instead."
"You said let's go on a backpacking trip, but you've brought a person to a Grade 1 void where another species is manifested, you crazy bastard……."
Dwarves. A race that appears regularly in fantasy genre works.
In any work, they are born with the attribute of 'excellent blacksmith' embedded in their national spirit. Thus, the masterpiece weapons created by dwarves are treated as heritage of lost technology, much like the yogurt cart we're riding now.
You can probably guess why I crawled all the way to this remote void in the Taebaek Mountain Range claiming to strengthen my forces.
That's right.
I came here to get equipment drops.
**2**
I first discovered this place, commonly called 'Jeongseon Dwarf Mine,' in the 54th iteration.
Around that time, I had just established the National Highway Management Corps, so I was traveling throughout the eight provinces of Korea to complete the Grand Territorial Map (version up).
The Jeongseon Dwarf Mine was a village that looked like it had popped right out of creative works.
Sounds of 'Clang clang!' of iron being struck rang from all directions, and dwarves moved endlessly—a village like that.
As if asking when the Taebaek Mountain Range's mining industry had ever declined, the sounds of pickaxes and hammers creating noise pollution continued endlessly in the dwarf village.
But the voids of this world weren't that easy. This place, too, which would be reborn as a splendid mining village, had some flaws that made it difficult to call an ordinary village.
"Hello?"
-…….
"Do you understand my words? Hello? How are you? Can you recognize me?"
-…….
"Inferior species to elves. Your beard is quite ugly."
Clang!
The 'dwarves' struck their hammers on the anvil without any reaction. They had an attitude that didn't even acknowledge this side.
Actually, if you looked closely at their faces, you could see they had deviated significantly from typical dwarves.
First, their beards were thick and bushy. This didn't matter. But where eyes should have been, there were 'eye holes,' and where a mouth should have been, there was a 'mouth hole.'
This wasn't wordplay.
It meant eyelids and lips didn't exist.
-……, …….
Clang, claaang-!
Arms as thick as Hercules statues, abnormally bulging with a strangely distorted balance. That mass of flesh let out bizarre breathing sounds from the 'mouth hole' while endlessly striking the hammer.
-Oh……. Oh-un……. Oh… oh……
Not the sound of air stored in lungs then expelled, but rather a sound like the whole body was made of a leather bag like a hourglass drum, with air flowing from inside the body.
Not the breath of life, but a whistle from the abyss.
"Hmm."
Even for me, the greatest linguistic genius in Earth's history, the dwarf language seemed a bit difficult. Well, that was obvious. It wouldn't be a language of Earth.
Disappointment lingered in my mouth.
'If I could commission weapons from the dwarves, without a doubt, excellent swords effective against anomalies would be born.'
After looking around the mining village, there were seven blacksmith dwarves in total, and none of them were capable of communication.
Ultimately, in the 54th iteration, I only identified the void's location and returned without any particular gains.
**3**
"Wait……."
Nodo-ha interrupted my old story.
"Then why the hell did you crawl all the way to this backwater village? They don't communicate, and they don't particularly make equipment for us……?"
"Ah. It's fine. I have no intention of asking the dwarves to make weapons, specifically."
"……? Then why?"
"Haa, think about it, Guild Master. Even if normal communication is impossible, if these are truly anomalies mimicking dwarves from creative works, wouldn't their hammering and tanning contain remarkable techniques? Just as a protagonist talented in martial arts gains great enlightenment just by watching a Sword Master's swordplay, an excellent blacksmith would be able to grasp numerous techniques just by watching these dwarves' hammering."
"Haa……?"
"And the ore those anomalies are striking—that's not a mineral found on Earth. Well, it's probably called something like adamantium. Naturally, the technology to smelt that ore and create weapons would be monopolized only by those dwarves, not modern Earthlings. To smelt this mineral, an excellent blacksmith needs to learn techniques from the dwarves."
"……?"
"Gasp. What a coincidence. Right before my eyes is the most talented blacksmith in Korean history. That is, the Three Hans' First Artisan. Ta-da."
"……."
"Ta-daaaah-"
"……."
"……."
"……."
"Oh. So. You're saying. I should learn how to handle ore that doesn't exist on Earth—whether it's adamantium or some other shit—just by watching from those fucking anomalies who don't even speak, and then forge SSS-grade weapons for your personal use……?"
"Exactly."
"Hey. Please just die."
"Ah, I heard that last iteration too."
"……?"
"Last iteration, I just piggybacked you and ran here in less than a day. So the Guild Master strangled my neck to kill me. Asking if he looked that easy to mock. Telling me to try dying for real. I didn't expect him to actually kill me, but anyway. That's why this time I brought the yogurt cart anomaly so you could come more comfortably. I did well, didn't I?"
"You fucking crazy bastard——."
My neck was strangled.
This time I didn't die.
I'm an Infinite Regressor, after all. Just spinning a tale.