Chapter 71. Taboo (1/2)

The village of Ramman was a fragrant little settlement kissed by warm rays of the sun.

Although it was smaller in size compared to the village of Zahrah, in return, the place was surrounded by a picturesque landscape straight out of an oil painting with fences running through the carpets of endless yellowish-green fields. And in the distance, precipitous mountains that looked as if they had wrapped themselves up in mother nature like a veil serving as the unforgettable backdrop.

Seol Jihu paid the balance to the two carriage drivers, and slowly closed his eyes as the gentle breeze tickled him by. The gentle winds stroking his cheeks brightened his mood up greatly.

'We got lucky.'

They didn't encounter any ambushes during their travel and arrived at their destination before nightfall. Although it might have been nothing to fret over, for some reason, he couldn't help but feel good about this.

It was as if the heavens were blessing his first outing as the….

“Bleeeurgh-!!”

His peace was shattered by the sudden noise of someone vomiting on the side. And then, that was followed by the disgusting noise of something falling on the ground.

He broke out of his reverie and opened his eyes, a deep frown forming on his face. Not too far from him, a girl with a slightly wavy blonde hair was bent over, busy emptying out the contents of her stomach.

The superbly green fields were instantly soiled by the thick mess of reddish-brown liquid.

“Khya-ahk, ghyaahk!”

Was she trying to scream or vomit? Which one was it?

After successfully vomiting out a rather terrifyingly large chunk of something, Maria maintained that deep grimace while she shoved her index finger back inside her throat. And then – began vomiting one more time.

“That's why I told you to drink in moderation.”

Seol Jihu walked over to her and patted her back.

It was understandable, though. She drank that much yesterday and then had to ride a carriage non-stop for the past twelve hours, so it'd have been a miracle if her innards were still intact and functioning properly.

Maria barely managed to lift her head back up and began breathlessly grumbling out in her usual manner.

“Pant, pant… Argh, this god-fucking motion sickness….”

Seol Jihu took out a clean rag and began wiping Maria's cherry-red lips all dirtied from the puke. She looked unimpressed but had no energy left to resist him, so she remained docile for the time being.

“Our little Maria is going through a lot, isn't she~?”

Chohong giggled and approached the duo before handing over a bottle of vodka. Seol Jihu gasped in disbelief but Maria seized upon this chance to snatch the bottle away and took a mouthful of the hard liquor.

She used that as a mouthwash; her cheeks ballooned up as she sloshed the alcohol around in her mouth before spitting them back all out. And then, she tilted the bottle a little to take a small sip.

“Keu-heuh… Urgh! Now I feel alive.”

“….”

Seol Jihu suddenly thought that alcohol must be circulating in her veins, rather than b lood. It became somewhat torturous to watch anymore, so he turned around to leave. Even Veronika looked away as if she was fed up.

She saw the depressed look on the youth's face. She sighed and lightly patted him on his shoulders. Somehow, that helped in consoling him a little.

“Looks like we'll have to rest for the day.”

Mikhail shook his head in helplessness. Seol Jihu agreed with that assessment. It wasn't just for Maria's sake though. Riding carriages for half a day straight was never easy. Besides, they weren't pressed for time, like how it was with the Arden Fortress back then.

The six of them agreed to search for a suitable place to get some rest and entered the village's entrance. And that's when this happened.

“I saw it! I swear, I did!”

Out of the blue, a hoarse voice greeted them from the side. An old woman standing in front of the thatched-roof mud hut was staring at the group with unblinking eyes. She seemed to be a Paradisian.

“It was a white ship! A white ship lowered its anchor!!”

'A white ship? Anchor??'

Seol Jihu tilted his head.

The old woman grabbed the handrail, hard. She looked as if she'd rush out at any second now. It was at this moment that a man hurriedly ran in from a distance.

“Mother! Why are you doing this again?”

“I saw it! I'm telling you, I saw it!”

“I understand. I understand, mother, so please go back inside. These people are Earthlings.”

“I'm telling you, a white ship lowered dozens of anchors!!”

The old woman continued to shout out even as she was pushed back inside the hut. The man sighed helplessly and urgently lowered his head to the group.

“I-I'm truly sorry! My mother has a small problem with her mind and….”

“No, it's fine. Don't worry about it.”

Seol Jihu's calm voice caused the man to blink his eyes in a bit of daze. His previous nervous demeanor had softened just a tad.

“Are you here because of the subjugation request?”

“Yes. Are you the one who issued it?”

“Ah, no. I'm actually in charge of the security of this village. My name is Brice. The issuing of the request is always taken up by the village head, actually.”

'The village head is in charge of it all the time, is it….'

Seol Jihu began chewing on those words, causing Brice to cautiously ask him again.

“Is there anything that I can help you with?”

“Ah, yes. We need a place to rest for a while.”

“We'll definitely provide you with a place like that. Let me guide you to the inn.”

Seol Jihu felt someone touching him on the arm, He turned to look, and found Maria shaking her head.

“I don't want to breathe indoor air right now. It's a bit of a bother, too. I'll be fine if I just get some air for an hour or so.”

“Well, that's what she said. Looks like we'll be fine with an outdoor area.”

“Please, follow me. I know of a place that fits your criteria.”

Brice guided the team to an open area with a log table seemingly carved out from the trunk of a huge tree, surrounded by several aged wooden chairs. He continued to sneak glances behind him, perhaps worried about the team making other demands from him.

Just as Maria planted her forehead on the smooth surface of the log table, Mikhail opened his mouth.

“Hey, leader. If it's okay with you, can I ask him a couple of questions? I came here before so I just wanted to confirm a few things, you see.”

“Really? It's fine.”

Seol Jihu replied with an expression that asked back, “Why are you asking my permission for that?”

Mikhail grinned refreshingly at the youth's attitude.

Since he wasn't a header, he should refrain from stepping up too much, but most leaders wouldn't mind this little bit of insubordination unless they were of persnickety nature.

“Hey, you said your name was Brice, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“It's nothing much, actually. I was just curious if anything has changed since the last time. The contents of the request, that is.”

“No, not at all. There aren't any changes, as far as I can tell.”

“In that case, it means we can scoot over to the night fog zone to kill them before they come out, right? Like the last time?”

“Yes, that's correct.”

Mikhail nodded his head. Brice asked if he was curious about anything else, and after hearing the reply of “No, not anymore”, hurriedly departed from there.

“Looks like it won't be that difficult again. We can conclude our first goal by going to the night fog zone.”

Veronika spoke up, yawned, and stretched her limbs grandly. Rather than asking his teammates what this night fog zone was, Seol Jihu recalled it from the records he read before coming here.

“The night fog zone is where the variants respawn every four months, yes?”

“Yeah. It's a bit of distance away, but if we walk fast, we can get there under two hours, max. The monsters that appear beside the variants aren't all that much to worry about, either. With our team's ability, we'll probably massacre them when they show themselves.”

“We can't let our guards down, though. Our leader did say that the variants could have gotten stronger, after all. Don't forget that Moles appeared near Haramark recently, and Lioners showed up in the Forest of Denial, too.”

Gierszal finally broke his weighty silence and voiced his opinion. Veronika shrugged her shoulders.

“Hey, let's eat something! I haven't had anything since this morning, and this hunger's driving me insane.”

Chohong sounded really grouchy as she spat those words out. She took her bag from one of the porters and pulled out the dried meat, fruits, and pieces of bread.

The rest of the team were also feeling hungry at this point, so they reached to grab their share.

Seol Jihu fell deeper into his thoughts as he chewed on the dried meat. If he wanted to, they could finish this mission today and go home. Of course, he didn't want to return after doing only that.

'Why couldn't anyone find the colony?'

There was no result without a cause. There had to be a reason why variants kept appearing in this place.

'….Should I just start digging the ground or something??'

He set out to solve this mystery, but he simply didn't have enough information to do that. Even Ian ended up throwing his hands up in defeat, so this task was never going to be easy.

But, he did have his suspicions.

He got up from his wooden chair while taking a couple of things to eat along with him. Seeing him get up, the bread sticking out of Chohong's mouth bobbed up and down.

“Bare bah byu goong?”

“I'm going to take a look around the village for a bit.”

Seol Jihu turned around to leave after activating 'Nine Eyes'. He originally planned to use it when he got to the night fog zone, but he figured that activating it within the village wouldn't be such a bad idea as well.

Well, having more information was better than not having any, after all. And if he got lucky and stumbled onto a jackpot, then even better.

And so, after he'd been walking a while….

'Green…. Another green….'

He walked around, looking to his left and right. He then suddenly sensed someone tugging at his hand. He looked down to find an unfamiliar little girl tugging at the bread held in his left hand with her small, cute fingers.

“B-r-e-a-d. Brreead.”

Seol Jihu had to stop walking as the girl was barely keeping up with her hurried trot.

“Heeey!!”

The little girl suddenly went Hiick! from the sudden yell coming from somewhere and began hiccuping in fright.

“What do you think you're doing?! Come over here, quickly!”

A young boy rushed in a hurry and snatched the little girl's hand away. He must've been around ten years old or somewhere there. He was about a head taller than the girl and looked to be her biological older brother.

“He's an Earthling, an Earthling! I told you not to go near one, didn't I? You want to be spanked?!”

“But, hiiing… the bread….”

Did she want to eat it so badly? The eyes of the complaining, kicking little girl became moist in no time at all.

The boy managed to drag his little sister away, but his actions came to a sudden halt when Seol Jihu knelt down on one knee to match his eyes.

“Here.”

Seol Jihu smiled and pushed forward the lengthy bread. The little girl's eyes sparkled from seeing the food being offered. She then shook off the flustered boy and came running back to the youth. She grabbed the bread, and after opening her mouth wide, she took a healthy bite.