Chapter 57

Chapter 57 : Even Artisans Are Selective About Their Tools (8)

System-wise, no confirmation notification had appeared yet.

Considering the system had gone missing ever since I entered this region itself, I could set that aside.

Murel had definitely acknowledged it as the production method, so now all I had to do was take it with me. The problem was the possible outcomes once I carried it outside.

There was Murel’s brutal warning, the sort that deserved to be plastered all over with red warning labels, and there was also the possibility that the flame’s identity might be exposed and Etel might threaten me, including outright robbery.

That said, simply sticking the Blue Flower into the snowfield and leaving would be the same as throwing it away. On top of that, at a time when the unfamiliar intruder’s objective was unclear, it could be stolen by him instead.

The system was broken, so I could not view the Original Work either, making it difficult to dig up separate information.

‘This situation has become a headache.’

Listening to the sounds of bickering behind me as background noise, I pressed hard at my temples.

First, I set aside the two or so petals contained in the glass bottle, wrapped the main body in paper, and hid it carefully in my bag.

For Hwipone, I would hand him only the glass bottle and tell him a truth-laced lie: “That was the only trace left.” That should bury Etel’s threat for the moment.

As for Murel’s warning…….

“Did you say that if the balance collapses, the hidden ancient beings will awaken?”

Judging by the reaction he had shown when I had roughly tested him with the word sovereign, that seemed right.

There were two meanings I knew for the word rule. The sovereign written about in the Travel Log, and the Ruling Phantasmal Species I had seen in the whale’s hidden room.

Murel certainly seemed to know what that meaning was, and the one I was curious about was Hwipone.

Did the Surface Folk know about the existence of sovereigns too?

I turned back toward the two still fighting like children and frowned.

Murel had easily slammed the shouting Hwipone to the floor and was stepping on Hwipone’s spread wings on both sides while raising his claws.

‘Was he not supposed to be an aide of the sky, in his own way?’

If I left them any longer, a certain someone whose name began with Hwi looked likely to cross the road to the afterlife, so instead of stopping Murel directly, I called Hwipone.

“Hwipone, have you ever heard of ancient beings?”

Hwipone, who had been groaning and sweating cold, reflexively turned to look at me.

“Ancient beings? Do you mean Phantasmal Species?”

Murel seemed to recognize once again that he could not do anything to someone I was addressing, and he quickly grew gloomy and let Hwipone go.

Hwipone immediately tucked his Frame away, rubbed his shoulder, and approached me.

“If you mean ancient beings, there are Gigantic Phantasmal Species, or old Phantasmal Species that went into places no one can reach―keuhk.”

Murel shoved Hwipone aside and barged in, shaking his head as though frustrated and attempting to explain.

“Ancient beings are not creatures like that. They are…….”

But in the middle of speaking, he glanced at Hwipone rolling around roughly on the floor and swallowed his words.

Mm, was this an issue where the Surface Folk were not supposed to know the concept of sovereigns? For now, it was certain that Hwipone did not know.

Murel hurriedly tried to patch over his words and turn the situation around.

“My Lord must have had a purpose for all of it. It will be fine! If worse comes to worst, is it not enough to break everything?”

That does not seem right.

The one who had confined Murel here was Sek.

What he had told him to guard was probably this blue flame, and he had likely also intended to block this cursed land while he was at it.

All while telling him the dangers of taking the flame out.

‘I should separate Hwipone for now and ask again later.’

I waved a hand and moved past that part.

I threw the glass bottle I had prepared to Hwipone, who was sprawled on the floor. Hwipone had lost all motivation and looked as though he had given up on everything, but he caught the flying glass bottle just fine.

“What is this?”

As expected, did he not remember what happened earlier?

“The medicine you ate.”

“What?!”

“A flame with the power to suppress this place’s curse. That is the only thing left. Take it to Etel.”

“To My Lord?”

“It is to confirm whether that is what she has been looking for all this time. Give it to her, and she will know.”

I left Hwipone alone as he quickly came back to life and carefully secured the glass bottle, then gestured to Murel, who was crouching in a corner and sending me sparkling looks.

He came pattering over and wagged a nonexistent tail wildly.

“Pack your things.”

“I already have!”

Murel sprang upright and gathered the luggage he had already prepared, both arms full. That was roughly settled.

‘Mm…… now the only thing left is when the crow-tit will wake up.’

I gently touched the crow-tit, which had been asleep in my pocket for a long time.

The crow-tit had not woken even once since we crossed the final curtain.

‘What if it is not that it will not wake up, but that it cannot?’

It had always found and eaten whatever it needed for its own growth, and I had mostly left that crow-tit alone.

The crow-tit slept when it wanted to sleep and went where it wanted to go.

This time too, I had thought it had simply collapsed because of digestion after overeating too much…….

It was not a problem I would find an answer to right away just by worrying. If the cause lay in the place, then leaving it would be enough.

If the problem remained afterward, I could think about it then.

“Let us hurry back.”

“One Stronghold Phantasmal Species is still left, is it not? What about that?”

Murel, who had finished preparing to leave and come out, answered Hwipone’s words in my stead.

“If you mean the snake bastard, it is already dead. You may simply leave!”

“Dead?”

“Hmmm…… judging by the energy, I would guess it was around the time My Lord plucked the flame. How suspicious. Since the flame that had been suppressing the curse was plucked, the Phantasmal Species should have slipped free from control…….”

“Slipped free from control?! All those monsters?!”

Hwipone, who had been muttering as if suspecting whether it really was Karon’s group after hearing that the Stronghold Phantasmal Species had been caught, cut Murel off in shock at the next words.

“Why are you getting so worked up?”

Murel reluctantly asked back with half-lidded eyes.

Hwipone paced left and right restlessly, then lifted his head with a look of dismay.

“If they slip free from control and spread around this area…… that is the humans’ land.”

Humans? Did he mean that city Pan had improvised when making up the setting that I had been sold off because I owed a gambling debt?

Did Sky’s Domain touch that place?

“One, that is not our problem to worry about. Two, humans are not weak. Three, even the ones that crossed over occasionally were hunted very well by humans. Four, do charity work on your own.”

Murel spoke each word through clenched teeth, then waved a hand at the end and added casually,

“I made them, so they are just a little strong without any particularly impressive abilities anyway. I do not know what there is to worry about. Is it because you are a bird bastard and a scaredy-cat?”

In the end, it fell to me to separate Hwipone, who exploded, and Murel, who had gotten tangled up with him again.

“If both of you do not stop, I am just leaving alone. The necklace is with that bastard too, so get it yourself.”

When Hwipone learned the necklace’s whereabouts, he flapped his wings and charged again, but thanks to Murel’s clean disregard, the fight did not happen.

“My Lord, if you intend to abandon me again, kill me before you leave! I will no longer leave your side. Even if I die, I will become a spirit and follow you…….”

Rambling, rambling.

I had no idea why I felt so tired.

---

“Hurry up and give that back.”

“This is an object My Lord bestowed upon me, bird.”

“Could you stop with those strange titles?”

“If I do not call a bird a bird, what else should I call it?”

“If you want to keep running your mouth and expose everyone’s identity, keep calling me that.”

Near the immigration hall, Hwipone and Murel kept squabbling.

Hwipone, already famous as an aide of the sky, and Murel, who was visibly red and intense at a glance, attracted the attention of everyone passing by as they faced off.

On top of that, after the Nonaggression Pact negotiations ended, entry had opened again and tourism had begun, so the immigration hall was crowded with people.

It had reached the point where a circular area formed around us.

I left the two alone and watched how far they would go, but in the end, I had to drag them into a corner.

“You childish bastards, are you children? No, what happens if you do something there that even children would not do? Let us say this bastard does not know because he has been locked away, but Hwipone, why would you set fire to that?”

I shoved both of them against the wall, folded my arms, and glared. Before we came to the immigration hall, the two of them had bickered constantly there as well, making me anxious for no reason that the intruder might discover us, and now it was still ongoing.

I had no intention of leaving Murel here for long.

Murel’s precarious titles and remarks, born from his excessive loyalty toward me, were like setting off a bomb in Sky’s Domain.

Feeling that several gazes were still clinging to us, I hurriedly sorted things out.

“Murel, just hand over the necklace. Hwipone, take it and run to Etel. Done.”

At my decision, Murel removed the necklace without lingering attachment and handed it to Hwipone.

Hwipone, baffled by that easy and swift surrender, looked ready to argue all over again.

Whether he did or not, I pushed Hwipone’s back and begged him to disappear already.

“Come on, come on. Time to go home.”

“Hey, you. That bastard is Underfolk, is he not? Just you wait. I am telling you, he might be the one who brought Karon in.”

“I understand, so go. Are you planning to spread rumors all over town?”

“Hoo, I am only doing this for your sake……!”

“Yes, yes. Give Etel my regards.”

I waved at Hwipone, who pointed at us again and again while looking back, then tapped Murel on the shoulder where he had his head pressed against the wall.

“My Lord…….”

“If you want to come with me, stop calling me My Lord.”

“Then what should I call you?”

Staring at the bastard as his eyes trembled in tiny movements of confusion, I felt troubled over how I was supposed to explain this to Pan.

Leaving myself aside, Murel and Pan surely knew each other.

“Just call me Iwon—no, Riwin.”

“Do you mean Iwon, or Riwin?”

Well, would you look at that?

Rarely had I met someone who could pronounce my name properly, so I raised one eyebrow.

“Call me Iwon.”

It was not bad to have one or two people who would call me by my name.

“Yes! Lord Iwon! Then are we leaving immediately? Where are we going?”

“The Forest’s Domain.”

“Hmmm, the forest, is it?”

As expected, had something happened with Pan?

I stared as Murel’s expression hardened coldly, then shook my head. I could hear what the story was later. For now, I left the corner.

Partly to check whether there was a Gate that could move directly to the Forest’s Domain, and partly to give Murel instructions.

“What bastard is this new lord, for him to drive My Lord from his place?”

“I want to know that too.”

Murel followed along at my heels, keeping his distinctive hunched posture, but much of the gloomy, deranged look from the beginning had disappeared. Should I say he looked more alive now?

I sighed inwardly.

‘I often wonder what if I really was that Sek too.’

There was a brief gap before the Gate.

I quietly watched Murel, who would not leave my side and kept looking around, then pointed outside.

“Go look around before we leave.”

“May I? But I do not wish to go out and become a burden to My Lord—no, to Lord Iwon. If you were to suffer any inconvenience because of me, I would have to dig a hole in the ground and lie down…….”

“Stop. Say one more word, and I will tell you to stay locked away.”

“……!”

Murel opened his hollow eyes with a coy look, pressed his mouth firmly shut, and shook his head.

He had seemed nothing but terrifying when he subdued Hwipone so easily, but in front of me, he wagged his tail every time like that, so it made my stomach feel a little…… unsettled.

The moment Murel went outside, he completely ignored every gaze driven into him and simply looked delighted by the scenery flying through the sky, his eyes shining.

Murel, who had lived alone from the moment the aftermath of the war had not yet fully faded two hundred years ago, found every little thing fascinating.

That was why there was such dissonance whenever the stained, brutal look of the old war abruptly showed through.

Thinking enough time had passed, I called Murel, who was walking with a loose, swaying gait.

The bastard looked at me as I stood still and said one thing, and that brief impression made me laugh.

“Mm, so this is an age of peace. How truuuly boring.”

Was that really something to say with such a terrifying face while smiling so brightly?