Chapter 16 - No Paradise Where You Flee, But There is Shita Castle
"Please, Jin-woo. Please help us."
"Help you or not, I'm telling you I'm not that person."
"Are you kidding me? I can tell just by your voice! I'm not an idiot!"
A cold sweat ran down my back.
My voice.
I hadn't even considered that.
The other kids probably had never even properly heard my voice.
An issue that only So-young could notice.
What was needed at a time like this was to play dumb.
"I don't know. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You don't know? Then you won't mind if I tell everyone that you're that person, right? Since it's just my own misunderstanding, after all."
"...Smoke Bomb."
There are many things in this world.
Among them, there are bound to be problems that I can absolutely not solve.
Clinging to such problems trying to solve them will only lead to misery.
Sometimes, the wisdom to walk away is necessary. Now was that time.
I left the village right then and there.
The forest path at night was dangerous. On the mountain roads of the Lumos Continent, which lacked a single streetlight, it wouldn't be strange for anything to pop out.
But I had to move now. I was more afraid of meeting So-young than of meeting a kobold.
"You came out quickly."
"You got here right on time."
"Of course. Being abandoned once is enough."
"Why do you keep saying you were abandoned when I never had you in the first place?"
"Hmph. So mean."
"Whatever, let's go. To Shita Castle."
"Yes! This way!"
Mosilian was quite useful.
First, she could read a map and knew how to find food. It was mostly nuts, so it wasn't incredibly delicious, but in this barren land, what more could you ask for than not starving?
Furthermore, the dugout and the night watch she provided every night were satisfactory. The dugout was warmer than anywhere else, and the nights of deep sleep were blissful.
So why was she only "quite useful"?
Sigh…
No matter the being, it's impossible for them to have only strengths.
Mosilian had a huge flaw.
"Are you really going to be like this?"
"Sniff. I can't help it."
The moment I took my eyes off her, Mosilian would attract a swarm of monsters.
"Should I just ditch her..."
"Eek! Don't say things like that where I can hear you!"
It seemed my escape in the middle of the night was not going to end easily.
[Your level has risen.]
[Lv.20 (Assassin) - Strength: 60, Agility: 80, Intelligence: 65, Total Combat Power: 1,980]
"Phew, finally level 20."
The higher my level got, the drastically slower my growth rate became.
I had been hunting for over a week, but I had barely gained 1 level.
And that was after wiping out all the monsters Mosilian had gathered.
"Because they're not a match for your level. You killed whatever monster appeared in a single blow."
"The way I see it, that's partly your fault too."
The synergy between me and Mosilian was decent.
To repeat, wherever Mosilian went, she attracted monsters.
It was probably the fate of a beastkin, and a weak one at that.
Was it because a delicious-looking prey was running around making a fuss?
The monsters failed to notice my presence even more than usual.
Stab from behind.
And another stab from behind.
Even if one of them noticed my presence in the middle of it, its attention would be stolen by Mosilian again.
'So she's like a moving chicken leg?'
Wouldn't monsters also want to swallow their food in one bite before it gets dirty?
"A-are you thinking something rude right now?"
"Whatever, now try to bring some stronger ones. I still need to get stronger."
"Sniffle, we'll die if we do that. Besides, you're already strong, aren't you? You were the strongest among your comrades."
"That's not enough. The moment I let my guard down, a creature like Rankol will pop out."
Of course, I was the strongest among the goddess's heroes. To the point where I had no worries about abandoning the other kids.
But that didn't mean I was strong enough.
This damn land was teeming with monsters even in front of peaceful villages like Lagun or Carroty.
To make matters worse, the further east we went, the scarier the monsters became.
I had to get stronger, if only to get to Shita Castle safely. Since up until now, fearsome monsters had been hiding right in front of the villages.
"Hey, even Rankol would be no match for you now. You were strong from the beginning, Hero, but your growth rate is ridiculous. You gain in an instant the strength my tribe would take dozens of years to grow."
"That's because I'm a hero of the goddess."
It wasn't a boast, but a statement that the goddess's blessing was with me. My stats rose every time I leveled up.
When my stats rose, I became stronger without doing strength training, and my stamina improved without running.
And that wasn't all. Even more broken than the stats were the skills. Things that others might spend a lifetime trying to learn, I simply 'obtained.'
To be able to use a special technique just by shouting its name. Among all the goddess's blessings, this was the most overpowered one.
'That's why I'm putting in the effort.'
Everything was growing smoothly. First, the most important skill, Dagger Storm, became level 2. The number of daggers I could summon at once was fifteen. Considering its power, it was a big improvement.
'Rear Attack is level 7, Smoke Bomb and Double Step are level 5, Decoy is level 3, and Poisoned Blade is level 2?'
The skills, named for proficiency, grew depending on how often I used them.
However, Corpse Absorption hadn't grown at all yet. The reason was simple.
I no longer got injured while hunting ordinary monsters. If I stabbed from behind, one was guaranteed to die, and with Smoke Bomb, it wasn't difficult to extricate myself.
Deliberately getting injured to use it was also an unsettling thought.
I didn't like the idea of injuring myself, but unlike other skills, Corpse Absorption had a cooldown time.
If I used it just to test it out and then couldn't use it when I really needed to, it would be a huge problem. There were no proper hospitals here, and even if there were, they wouldn't be comparable to the medical standards of Korea.
'I'll just have to try it once in a while when it's safe.'
"Look over there! It's Shita Castle!"
While I was lost in various thoughts, we had arrived in front of a giant castle.
"You found the right way."
"I'm good at finding my way! When I'm confused about where to go, I just have to go in the direction more people have traveled. In the middle, I used this a few times… Ouch!"
"You should have told me if you were lost, you brat."
"But then you would have abandoned me."
"..."
This brat, it seems she's developed some kind of trauma.
"I won't abandon you."
"Really?"
"As long as you're still useful."
"Eek!"
"Whatever, just keep a good watch on our surroundings."
"What are you going to do?"
"You'll know when you see it."
I put away Rankol's sword and took out a small dagger. To use Corpse Absorption, I first needed to get injured.
Slice. The sharpness was incomparable to a stationery box cutter. My skin immediately split open, and blood dripped down.
"Tsk. That stings like hell."
"A-are you crazy? Why are you suddenly self-harming..."
"Shut up, brat. Corpse Absorption!"
[Corpse Absorption (Lv.1) - Heals wounds by absorbing from a dead target.]
[Can only be used on dead targets.]
[Cooldown Time: 24 hours]
[Healing Efficiency: 5%]
The corpse I had prepared was an orc.
Its size was at least 20 times that of my wound, a perfect size to heal it with a 5% healing efficiency.
"Ooh, not bad."
As Corpse Absorption activated, blue mana was sucked out of the orc's corpse.
The mana soon wrapped around my wound, stopping the bleeding and filling in the split flesh.
The fact that the corpse wasn't disintegrated as it was absorbed made it even more useful.
"R-r-r-recovering through a c-corpse. A-are you a demon? Or a demonkin? Wh-what on earth are you!"
"Why are you suddenly trembling?"
"B-but an ability that defiles a corpse. That's something only the demonkin have."
Mosilian took out her mace.
The sincerity was etched into her trembling hands. Her eyes, trying to fight me yet lost in confusion.
It was a situation that made one sigh.
"Calm down, brat. I just took Crokes's ability and am using it. You saw it too, didn't you?"
"You can take another being's ability and use it? I-is that even possible?"
"You saw it. It is. And if I were really a demonkin, why would I have saved you?"
"That was because of the jewels..."
"Those damn jewels. I could have just killed you and taken them, right? I can still do that now."
Mosilian flinched and trembled, but she wasn't just a fool.
"Your abilities are truly endless, Hero."
The end of Mosilian's voice was still trembling.
For some reason, it seemed less like she trusted me and more like she was trying not to get on my bad side.
So she's not a fool, but her survival instincts are just sharp?
Well, it doesn't matter.
I don't trust Mosilian that much in the first place.
"More importantly, tell me about the demonkin. Do they really exist in this land?"
"Yes, of course. It's a story everyone from the Lumos Continent knows."
"I'm not from the Lumos Continent. So what are they like?"
"If you're not from the Lumos Continent, don't tell me you're from the land of the demons..."
I silently took out Rankol's sword.
Mosilian's answer came faster than ever before.
"The war with the demonkin has been going on for hundreds of years. Most of them have been driven to the eastern end of the Lumos Continent now, but I hear the fighting is endless if you go to the eastern part of the continent. The demonkin are constantly trying to take over this land. The ones who stop them and protect the continent are the goddesses."
"Hmm. That goddess, you mean."
"Yes. The most powerful god of the Lumos Continent. The god who looks after us beastkin is a different one, but it's an undeniable truth that the goddess's influence is the strongest."
Unlike other humans, Mosilian didn't worship the goddess. The god of all the furry beings was a different entity. But she seemed to know full well how great the goddess was.
"The demonkin are beings who endlessly crave battle. Violent beings. Strong beings. Is that about it? Then the goddess's heroes will probably keep traveling east."
I felt a sense of unease.
Because Shita Castle was also quite far to the east.
"If Shita Castle is livable, I'll settle down, and if not, let's go north or south. That would be the safest."
"I thought you were going to fight?"
"Why would I fight? What has the goddess ever done for me?"
Of course, she did save my life.
She also taught me many ways to survive.
But if I risk my life just because she saved it, then didn't I get nothing in the end?
"The north is dangerous too. Not just the demonkin, but the environment is harsh, and the monsters are stronger than elsewhere. They say the demonic energy from the God-Demon War hasn't been fully purified."
"Really? Then let's go south. It would be best if we can settle down in Shita Castle."
A castle is bigger than a village.
And a castle had its own military force.
The castle lord was a noble, after all, and held a degree of autonomy.
If such a force could defend the castle, the amount of fighting I'd have to do would be greatly reduced.
"Wow, this is practically a mountain."
Looking up at Shita Castle from up close, the sense of pressure was no joke.
A structure made by human hands, yet it made those same humans seem so small.
That was Shita Castle.
The large gate was firmly shut, and the castle walls that encircled it showed a resolve to not let just anyone in.
"So how do we get in?"
"What's there to worry about? You're a hero who came on the goddess's command. That alone should be proof of your identity."
"The problem is that I don't want to do that."
I am definitely a hero of the goddess. On top of that, because of my achievement of killing Crokes, they said I would be praised wherever I went.
But I hated that praise. Praise is something that has no substance and only increases responsibility. If you're going to give me something, I'd rather have a single gold coin than a thousand words.
"I didn't come here to fight. I'm just going to get what I need and live quietly. There must be something I can do in this land."
"What? You're the best fighter right now, what could be better than that?"
"There are a million things that are safer than that. Besides, if you keep fighting strong enemies, you'll die someday. It's better to just hunt nearby monsters and make a living."
A monster hunter. It was quite an attractive profession. High risk usually meant high reward.
The items that came from hunting monsters would surely be worth much more than a salary. And I could enjoy that reward without taking on the risk.
"Not bad."
"Ugh, please just don't think of using me as bait."
"I hadn't thought of it, but that sounds good too."
"..."
"Anyway, let's go in. Quietly."
The way to enter a place you can't enter was simple. Just walk in following the person in front of you. Because no one would know I was entering.
"You're not thinking of going in alone, are you?"
Ah, right. I had a tag-along with me today.
"Should I ditch her?"
I was seriously considering it.