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Chapter 269: The Hardness That Drives You Mad

Being unbelievably hard is practically its own weapon. Just look at that American hunter who only carries a shield; that says it all.

What a crazy romantic! I totally get that feeling, though. It’s a dream after all…

However, what I currently hold in my hands is a shock-reflecting material that goes beyond even shock-absorbing materials.

What this means is that if I swing this material like a stone against someone with a rock-hard head, I get bonus attack power equivalent to their defense. Is this even a logical material?

With the existence of this material, if I’m lucky, I might achieve a rainbow reflection, or at the very least, a fatal counterattack. It could be said to be an ace item fit for the king of beasts, the Dragon.

Of course, since the shell is already cracked at this point, there’s a limit to the amount of shock it can reflect, so blindly trusting it would be a mistake.

“What should I do with this…?”

Yeon-woo started to let her imagination run wild. What if she made armor or a shield out of this?

It would make an excellent weapon, and if I can analyze its components to replicate its properties even slightly, it would surely become an incredible weapon.

“I really don’t want to burst Dad’s dream, but… there’s no way we could make something amazing out of this.”

“…That’s true.”

As Shar pointed out, Gorum’s shell was barely the size of a small stone, at best.

How are we supposed to make armor or weapons from that? We’d need to gather samples to analyze the properties of a material we’ve never seen before, which would also take a toll.

I can’t just ask Gormeira to tear off more for me; this is definitely something we’d only use as a last resort.

“I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with just getting a clue about the dragon.”

“I never thought that would be the problem. I was too un-dragon-like for that to be possible…”

Shar looked down at her hands with a shocked expression. It was quite an overdramatic gesture, but since Shar was doing it, it was endearingly cute.

Yeon-woo lightly patted Shar’s head. If I just leave her alone, she might start self-reproaching for no reason.

“Don’t worry too much, Shar. Even without that, Dad is strong enough!”

“I don’t think he’s that reliable…”

“Damn, that was a hurtful conversation.”

As Yeon-woo sulked, Shar chuckled softly.

Her clear laughter seemed to soothe Yeon-woo’s wounded heart like a fresh bandage.

Even though she hadn’t really been hurt in the first place.

“Let’s hurry back. I want to show Nea this massive treasure I found!”

“Dad really is a child, isn’t he? Me too!”

“Sigh, you’re both such kids.”

Unfortunately, Shar really was a child and was taking things in stride without any damage done.

*

To my surprise, Yeon-woo quickly wrapped up the tasks at Changhae before meeting with Dang Sa-ryeon one last time before leaving.

It seemed like Dang Sa-ryeon was very busy, still darting around even as I approached just to see her face.

“…What’s going on?”

Appearing tired, Dang Sa-ryeon pressed her brow and shot me a curt question.

I could see dark circles under her eyes and her rough skin from my vantage point.

I felt a bit bad, but I didn’t come here just for my enjoyment to give out future intel.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, Dang Sa-ryeon coughed a bit. It was probably a signal to get to the point quickly.

“I was wondering if everything is going well. We’re finishing up surprisingly fast, so we’ll head somewhere else tomorrow.”

“Are you just dumping your work on others to play somewhere else…?”

As soon as she heard my words, the corners of Dang Sa-ryeon’s eyes began to brim with tension. What’s up with that? I quickly shook my head in surprise.

“I’m heading out to work too! If I mess things up here, it’ll be a disaster.”

“Yeah, I know. There’s no way I would use poison here.”

Everyone in our vicinity turned to look at us, sensing the uneasy tension radiating off the two of us.

If Dang Sa-ryeon misused poison here, those people would end up getting caught in it. She’d have to run around detoxifying them all, so there’s no way she’d actually do that.

‘If I were still the Poison Blood Girl from my previous life, I wouldn’t have cared if a few people got caught up in it.’

Thinking that, Yeon-woo felt a wave of nostalgia, realizing she was steering her future in a good direction.

“What kind of face are you making?”

“What kind of face was I making?”

“That face looked super unpleasant. Like it reminded me a bit of an old man.”

Imagining what it would feel like to have a classmate look at her like a cute grandchild, Yeon-woo realized just how bad it felt and immediately lowered her head.

“Sorry.”

“That’s all I needed to hear. So… it seems things are working out fairly well. Thanks to the info you provided, I was prepared ahead of time.”

“Glad to hear the information helped? I didn’t even know where it would be auctioned off.”

“Yeah, there are only a few places where something like poison gets auctioned. You gotta know that for the information to be useful.”

I see. So there are specialized auction houses focusing on those kinds of items. It wouldn’t be strange for Dang’s family to have connections with them.

“Moves are being made within the clan to acquire poison too. I won’t name names, though.”

“Glad to hear that you narrowed it down.”

“Yeah, from now on, we’ll catch the location and handle the purge. Thanks for your cooperation. Is this good enough?”

“Perfect. I feel like this is not a conversation that should be had around here, though.”

“Whatever place you go to, the same words will probably come out. Unless you have a separate room to talk privately. You’re not planning on doing that, right?”

“Good point.”

How could I possibly take a room to myself when I have a girlfriend and a future wife!

Even if I had no intention of doing anything malicious, the issue lies with Dang Sa-ryeon. If such a rumor started circulating, it was a given that they’d try to kidnap her as a potential bride.

The code of conduct for women from martial arts backgrounds is a heavy matter, and while chatting in a public place like this is fine, if it became known that we shared a room, there’d be no way out of that situation.

Bloodline-oriented families are especially strict in this regard.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave first. Let’s meet again later.”

“Yeah, I hope I can bring you better news next time.”

Yeon-woo gave an ambiguous smile at that.

What good news could I possibly deliver? “Oh, by the way, I just decapitated someone.” That kind of news would be a bit problematic to hear.

*

“It’s cold, so very cold.”

I wander endlessly through a snowfield that feels as white as a ghost and even bluish at times.

It might have been better to send Nea back, as bringing her this far might negatively affect her health, so I sent her back to Harmony City.

Shar said she’d come join me as a security detail, so she’d be joining me in a few days.

“Hey, are you all okay?”

“Yay! I’m fine as long as I’m holding hands with Daddy!”

“It’s super cold! Like really cold.”

Tae-oh laughed heartily while Dawn shivered adorably.

Unlike Tae-oh and Shar, who could turn into mana forms and enter my body, Dawn had to face all the hardships in her own body on this journey.

Honestly, even though I wasn’t fully equipped, I could feel the cold, so you can imagine how tough it would be for a regular child.

Thanks to being a sun god, I could manage to survive the cold; otherwise, a normal kid would have probably returned home ages ago.

“I can’t tell where I’m going, can you?”

“How mysterious! I can’t see anything!”

That wasn’t the kind of energetic declaration I was expecting. Still, Tae-oh is cute. I reached out and patted his cold little head.

The mist in the snowfield was quite sticky. I couldn’t tell if it was mist, snowflakes, or if I was just near death and my vision was blurring.

Fortunately, my sense of direction was relatively good, because otherwise, I’d have vanished in this snowfield.

Perhaps the Ice Palace side knew this fact too, as they contacted us to confirm what time to send an escort before we seriously stepped into the snowfield.

Considering this town had no transportation gates, it was a blessing.

‘How did Lucrecia-senpai manage to get through here….’

Is that what experience gets you? With such thoughts filling my mind, I kept trudging forward.

“Dawn, feeling cold? They say the best way to warm up in places like this is to hug each other…!”

“…Uh, um, would you hug me, Tae-oh? I feel like my eyes are closing because I’m too cold….”

Dawn’s face brightened with that invitation, only to darken instantly. It was some impressive method acting.

She looked like the little girl with a match in a thin outfit, abandoned in the winter streets.

“Y-you’re opening your eyes now, Dawn! Big brother will keep you warm!”

“Oh goodness….”

Tae-oh, easily fooled by such an act, pulled Dawn into his embrace tightly.

Of course, there was no way she would be crushed; after all, Tae-oh didn’t have much physical strength. If Shar tried hugging her like that, she would squish her in an instant.

In Tae-oh’s warm embrace, Dawn flushed while cheekily leaning against him. It was a scene dripping with warmth.

Though instead of the sweet reactions you’d expect from a young girl, I was getting the kind of reactions more like that of an aunt watching a romantic drama, but that was easy to overlook.

Yeon-woo’s Ice Elemental Mana wasn’t about to dominate the surrounding cold like Baek In-hwa did, so when under such overwhelming natural conditions, she lost control.

Not to mention, shooting fire might draw the ire of beasts.

While pondering how I could catch the attention of the search party from the Ice Palace, far off, I began to hear barking.

Yeon-woo became momentarily wary of the sound. Wolves in cold regions are classic monsters.

They had evolved fiercely due to the harsh environment, and to make matters worse, they traveled in packs.

However, if I think about it rationally, wolves don’t bark. As I drew my sword, eyes on the direction of the sound, figures began to appear through the mist.

“…Found them.”

Just as I thought I recognized a familiar, chilling voice among the howling wind.

The swirling snowflakes and wind started to retreat around me.

“How did they find me?”

It felt like something one would need to be a god to accomplish, and I murmured under my breath. Emerging through the flurry was a girl in a white martial outfit, Baek In-hwa.

“Because I like you.”

Damn it, what a troublesome person she is.

(Continued in the next chapter)

 

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