Chapter 195
Summing ritual instruments.
Just as the title says, it’s a skill that summons instruments necessary for rituals.
That female shaman is yet to turn 17 in this world, so she can’t use her light skill yet.
Fwaaaa…!
Using the light skill of the playable character spawned several witchcraft items.
A flute made of double bone bamboo, a gold-like musical instrument that connects the melted Bangjja to the Stream of Mumyeongcheon, and a cowl woven from tsumugi fabric.
Among the several equipments, I opened the Devil Warder’s Fan.
Fwaaang!
The nearly hundred folds of the fan spread out, and a dragon drawn between the moon and the sun was seen.
Along with the white tiger, it was a painting of a blue dragon, a painting considered to be a treasure.
<Using Playable Character’s Skill, ‘Ward off Evil Spirits.>
After unveiling the energy wave from the Sun-Moon Blue Dragon Fan, the huge fan with the blue dragon dashed towards the carrier that Namwook brought and disappeared.
The huge fan was swung, yet no wind flowed.
“What the…! It’s different from Euishin’s usual energy wave!”
“It’s the Devil Warder, a method used by the female shaman.”
Namwook used his ‘Eye of the Star Maiden’, while Jiho collected golden light magic in his eyes. The two watched my Devil Warder act.
The White Tiger also has the Devil Warder skill, but he holds the ritual by the ‘Cutting the Dead’ method with his sword.
The purpose of this Devil Warder act was to collect clues about the curse, not to remove it.
In order to do that, a different method of the ritual was needed.
“It’s faint, but it’s got its form.”
“It’s the same shape as the ‘Seed of Curse’ that I’ve seen!”
As Hwang Jiho said, the blue dragon was biting seed-like things in its mouth.
The Seed of Curse surrounded by a faint purple aura shone. The blue dragon that I summoned gradually blurred and disappeared.
“Take a step back.”
Fwaaa!
Hwang Jiho investigated the Seed of Curse with his golden magic.
I thought Jiho would only observe us, but turns out he’s even helping now.
Even so, I don’t need Hwang Jiho’s help for this one.
“You don’t have to remove its boundary.”
As I said that to Jiho, the Sun-Moon Blue Dragon fell on the floor next to my left hand which held the fan.
Swooosh!
As soon as the fan was completely folded, the skill of the female shaman automatically activated.
<Using Character Skill, The Spirit.>
At the end of the fan flowed a blue silk and a light from the blue jade.
Fwaaang!
I spread the fan again towards the direction of the seed.
Unlike the first time, the wind that caught the light swooshed and poured toward the seed.
“Jo Euishin, what are you doing?”
“I used ‘The Spirit’. I will soothe the spirit and reveal its substance.
Spirit does not simply mean ghosts, souls, or ghouls.
It’s not something like essence, or aura, all of which are words that pertain to spiritual beings.
Inside that seed is the Spirit of evil embedded in it.
Swiiish!
The blue mucous-ish light around the seed slowly fell off.
A few seconds later, the main body of the seed cracked.
Fwiishh….
Several distorted faces and rose patterns in the form of smoke evaporated into powder and disappeared.
I’m not familiar with the faces, but I know that pattern.
‘I think the pattern belongs to Avarita of Greed.’
I became sure when the Seed of Curse completely purified after I finished fanning.
Before I went to approach it, the seed became wrapped in a golden boundary and floated in the air.
“Euishin, just now that was… I’m not sure what it was, but that was amazing. I didn’t know that such dirty seed could become so pure.”
Following Namwook, Jiho also burst into admiration as he brought the seed closer to us.
“It’s completely purified.”
“Don’t forget the faces that you just saw. It’s the ‘malicious memory’ of that seed.”
When Namwook’s eyes opened wide, Jiho said something.
“Well, I saw some familiar faces too.”
“Eh? You know someone among them?!”
“It’s someone from the TC Group. He is in a high-ranking position that the head of the Hwangmyeong Group knows him too.”
Jiho turned on his device and showed a picture.
A gentle-faced middle-aged man giving a speech was one of the faces that came up earlier.
“…It’s Sihoo’s relative!”
Namwook clenched his teeth as he said those words.
He never thought that even someone related to Sihoo by blood to wish malice towards him.
“The last thing that came up in the smokes was an Evil Lord, Avarita of Greed.”
“Come to think of it, I think you’re right. It was a bit distorted and faint, but good job in recognizing it.”
“Evil Lord? You mean one of the 7 gravest sins of the Demon Clan? You’re saying it’s not Sihoo’s relative, but a higher being?”
“I don’t think so. If higher beings had directly intervened, it would’ve ended with much more than an injury.”
Hearing that didn’t make Namwook feel any better.
Namwook said something while looking at the carrier with a troubled face.
“Who should I inform about this? The police? The association? The military academy? Or maybe Sihoo’s parents?”
“No, we don’t say anything.”
Namwook looked embarrassed when asked to not say anything, but he soon calmed down.
“…It’s like this too during the incident with Son Minki. Your plan was hard to understand, but the results were undeniable. I guess you have something up your sleeves just like back then.”
Confusion and suspicion were eradicated from Namwook’s eyes and replaced with full trust.
“What should I do?” Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com
I was thinking of ways to persuade him.
I didn’t expect that he’d trust me this easily.
I spoke to him while checking Sihoo’s personal items where the Seed of Curse was hidden.
“It was the head of the Rabbit Clan that said he could foresee death in Do SIhoo’s life. There’s a lot to think about what he said, but it’s odd that this event ended with only an injury.”
“That’s what I thought so. Still, it’s not something to be glad about that it ended like this.”
“I’ll check it again once the new items come in. Let me know as soon as something similar happens. Replace something else and bring it to me.”
“So in the meantime, Sihoo is…!”
“I think he’ll get hurt little by little. But we’re not going to let him die.”
Namwook closed his eyes and nodded.
Jiho said a word while looking at him.
“Moon rabbits are originally sensitive to death. We don’t know how far that process of death has come, but if the moon rabbit has foreseen it, there’s no way that this kind of simple purification can stop it.”
Jiho pointed at Namwook’s eyes.
“It would be helpful to hide those eyes and see if you can detect death. We don’t know where, when, and how it will happen.”
“Oh, I put some protection gear on my glasses.”
So that’s why he’s uncomfortable whenever people jokingly take away his glasses from him.
“The light of the ‘Eye of the Star Maiden’ will get stronger and stronger. You cannot hide that light with just that protection gear. Give it to me.”
“Oh?”
Jiho took Namwook’s ‘Oh?’ as him granting permission, so he took away the glasses from his hands.
When Jiho swept the frame with his fingertips, it was visible that magical writing became engraved in it.
After a few golden flashes, the magic disappeared and became invincible.
“Hmm, it doesn’t work very well because I planted mana on it. It doesn’t look very good from the outside.”
“Hey, what did you do?”
“Even if the level of your skill goes up, you’d still be able to hide it from humans.”
Jiho did Namwook a favor.
Would he become more comfortable in using that skill now?
Jiho also reinforced the magic after Namwook practiced using his skills.
Namwook looked puzzled, but he seems to be thinking ‘Euishin’s friend is a bit strange, but he’s amazing!’
After that, we talked for a while about the Seed of Curse and Do Sihoo. We decided to disband when it turned late.
“It’s difficult to allow access to the main building beyond the maze garden here, but if you want to stay, you can help yourself to the annex here.”
Jiho suggested so, but Namwook shook his head in refusal.
“I told my parents that I’ll come home after talking to Euishin. I need to go.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll let my secretary assist you to the front grade.”
“I’ll go out with him.”
I tried to tell Jiho that he doesn’t have to call his secretary because I will be the one to guide Namwook.
“Jo Euishin, you stay here.”
Jiho spoke sternly.
* * *
The smell of blood became stronger.
“I’ll answer you if you answer my question.”
Do you think you’re in a position to ask for something in return?”
Despite the White Tiger’s cold gaze, the Shapeshifter’s mouth opened again.
“I don’t believe that you lost your true name because you displeased the gods. White Tiger, your real name is…”
The White Tiger’s hand, which was on the way to rip off the Shapeshifter’s flesh, stopped mid-air when he heard him say the word ‘true name’
“…Isn’t it the same thing you use when you gave an order?”
* * *
Jiho did me a lot of favors today, so I decided to go follow him.
There are a lot of things I want to ask too.
‘What should I ask first?’
There are too many to think of.
I am grateful that Jiho did Namwook a favor, but there’s something bothering me.
I sent off Namwook to the front of the mansion. I started asking questions to Jiho on the way back.
“Do you not want to hide your identity anymore?”
He acted that way in front of our classmates before, and today in front of Namwook.
Unlike in the beginning, this old man doesn’t seem interested in hiding the fact that he was a Tiger.
‘At first, he tried to talk like a teenager and even reprimanded me to not reveal who he was.’
Jiho felt very nervous about this in the beginning.
“Is there any reason for me to hide it?”
“You weren’t like this in the first semester.”
“It’s because it was going to be bothersome if they found out that this body is actually a royal lineage. I hate bothersome things.”
“What about now?”
“I don’t think it’s going to be bothersome even if I get caught now.”
I don’t see the difference.
Is this old man usually this fickle?
Jiho asked me a question while I was thinking about what he said.
“I’m curious about something. Can you borrow my powers too?”
“No.”
“So it’s a light skill that doesn’t just copy powers, if I’m correct. Jo Euishin, you used the light skill that belonged to a descendant of the Dragon Clan during the Hwanmong auction, but… In the end, light skill is not just something that can be borrowed.”
Jiho was lost in thought.
I changed the topic, even though it might seem rude as Jiho was still thinking of asking more questions about the light skill.
“There was something that you said before which bothered me.”
“What is it?”
“Was the fact that the Red Tiger only wears black clothes one of the ‘things that you always knew’?”
He said it while mediating between the Red Tiger and Kim Shinrok.
— If anything happens to Shinrok, the Red Tiger will only wear black clothes for the rest of his life.
He said that to me while he was still investigating my identity, so I don’t think those words were simply to be taken as it is.
“Yes.”
“… I see.”
Hwang Jiho said that calmly.
“If you weren’t there that day, Shinrok would’ve been dead now and that might just happen to Red Tiger.”
There was a moment of silence.
To relieve the awkward silence, I asked another question.
“Unlike humans, it’s said that people of royal lineage fall into a ‘deep sleep’ instead. I want to know more about that.