Chapter 169 (2/2)

“… Is that so?”

Sungjin replied frivolously before saying,

“Then, I’ll leave it in your hands.”

“Ok. Just have faith in me.”

Sungjin bid farewell to Kargos then turned his feet around. On his way to Ninety Nine Nights, Besgoro said,

‘What a fascinating object, a gem that returns to a star shape all on its own. All my years on the battlefield, fighting and triumphing against countless barbarians chieftains of the north, heathen cult leaders of the south, and the witches of the west, I have taken a great number of treasures as my trophy… but I have never heard nor seen anything like that.’

At Besgoro’s words, Sungjin let out a short snort.

“Hm…”

His attention had returned to the dream he had just had.

‘The star-shaped item that Edward had used… Then, that…’

That gem was the Hidden Piece from the previous chapter, which Arachae’ard was searching for. The moment you obtained it from the corpse, Archae’ard would appear from the sky and demand it. If you declined, you would fight.

‘That means…’

It meant that Edward had also passed Archae’ard’s test and entrusted it to Kargos after earning the gem.

‘… Just what did Edward go around doing… That gem… Then…’

The doubts gave birth to new doubts. But the gem would not be complete for another day. Sungjin briefly stopped and looked back towards Kargos’s smithy. The light of the fire from the smithy could be easily seen from afar. He intensely gazed at that light for a few seconds, then returned to Ninety Nine Nights.

*

Grrrrrr

The sound of his stomach rumbling could be plainly heard. Sungjin finally opened his mouth.

“Operator, the time?”

[The time is 1:07 PM.]

‘… Is it already this late?’

After he had returned from his trip to Darker than Black and Kargos’s smithy, Sungjin had laid in bed. He did not eat breakfast, nor did he sleep. Instead, he thought about what the two Dragons, Ariane and Archae’ard, had said, about what the shop owner of Darker than Black had said, and about Edward’s past and his secrets.

All the pieces seem to be there but didn’t seem to fit somehow. This was undoubtedly because there was still a piece of the puzzle that was missing.

‘For now… After the next raid is over… I should know more after the gem is completed.’

While Sungjin was still thinking about things, his stomach once again growled.

‘Grrrrrrrrr’

Sungjin got up from his bed like a spring. It was a necessity that hunters eat properly. He heard the Operator’s voice when he opened the doors and began to climb down.

[The Chosen One has requested your teleportation.]

‘Now…?’

When Sungjin turned his head to look, Serin’s appearance was shown above the cube.

‘Ah, right… There’s Serin’s matter, too.’

Sungjin said to the cube,

“Aah… I’ll go. Teleport me.”

Sungjin was teleported to a restaurant on the outskirts of the Black Market. The eco-friendly landscape was well designed with all sorts of flowers and trees. It was the first time that Sungjin had seen such a place, even though he was the person who had spent the most amount of time in the Black Market.

Sungjin was thinking ‘wow there was a place like this’. It was a wonder that she found such a place. Serin was sitting at the best table in the center (as there were no other guests, reservations were not necessary). Sungjin sat down in front of her.

The problem was that, unlike the bright and beautiful environment, the mood was rather heavy. Even though they didn’t have a fight, or rather even though they didn’t even have a close enough relationship to be having a fight, the mood was rather awkward. After a moment, a deer demihuman with immense horns approached as he said,

“Welcome, to Five Emotions. Are you ready to order?”

Serin raised her hand towards him.

“We’ll order after a bit.”

“I understand. Then, please call me whenever you are ready.”

The deer demihuman courteously bid farewell then disappeared into the back. Awkwardness resumed. The two hesitated for a moment.

“I thought about yesterday, but…”

“I thought about yesterday, b…”

The two spoke up simultaneously but then stopped and stared at each other. Sungjin used that timing to speak first, apologizing.

“Yesterday, I think I was a bit hasty… When you first meet Edward… How should I put it, he really does seem like a nice guy after all.”

Serin also replied, while including an apology.

“No, it’s okay, Oppa. Since Oppa had returned in time once, there should have been something you saw before… I think I wasn’t able to understand that. If Oppa wanted to do something like that… There must have been a reason for it.”

The awkward mood quickly dissipated once the conversation began like that. Furthermore, at that time Sungjin’s stomach once again let out a sound.

‘Grrrrrrrrr’

The atmosphere was suddenly less serious. Sungjin patted his stomach as he said,

“Let’s first order our meals and then continue with our talk. I skipped breakfast so I’m really hungry.”

“Ah, of course. We’re ready to order.”

The deer demihuman with large horns approached and took their order. Once that was done, Sungjin stated the core of the matter.

“Well… What I see is different from what you see, but… It’s enough if we trust each other and act even if there are things we know and don’t know between us. It’s the same for me, and it’s the same for you.”

It was what he had thought of yesterday. Serin nodded her head as she said,

“Yes, Oppa.”

Afterwards, Sungjin briefly thought about Edward once more. That guy, who was always personable. It was not unreasonable for Serin to have misunderstood, either. At that time, Serin said,

“Oppa. But what you’re saying is…”

Her hesitation meant that there was something else she had wanted to say.

“Hrm, what?”

“No… It’s nothing.”

Unlike her normal actions, she shook her head meekly. During this time, the deer demihuman began to serve the food.

“Here is the salad with oysters and fresh dressing.”