Chapter 59 Part1 (1/2)

(TL: I’ve cut the chapter around 2/5 mark.)

An expedition was an ent.i.ty sharing one fate – this a.s.sertion from Samuel was something pretty much all Earthlings would readily agree with.

Didn’t matter whether one’s relations.h.i.+p was bad or not, or there was some bad blood; as long as they belonged to the same expedition, every member simply must cooperate with one another. No exceptions. If not, chances of the expedition spiralling into an uncontrollable mess during a march or during battles were very high, which would naturally lead to endangerment of the entire team.

In that regard, both Seol Ji-Hu and Klara lacked the ‘educational’ aspect of what made Earthlings the Earthlings.

Klara was blinded by greed, did something idiotic, and provided a pretext. And, when she was criticised for it, she got angry, instead. Seol Ji-Hu was triggered by her and relentlessly pushed her to a corner afterwards.

The result of that was the atmosphere of the expedition becoming icy, as if they were walking on thin ice.

Klara continued to wipe at the edges of her eyes, her breathing heavy and rough as if she couldn’t get over her anger. Seol Ji-Hu deliberately ignored her altogether.

Eventually, Samuel stopped leading the team only ten minutes after leaving the tomb.

“Master Ian, I apologise for this, but can we return to the vicinity of the tomb?” (Samuel)

“Mm? Why?” (Ian)

“It seems that we have left too quickly.” (Samuel)

“What do you mean by that?” (Ian)

“I think we should take a short break first. I thought that, from what you told us before, the vicinity of the tomb should be the safest….” (Samuel)

Samuel glanced at the still-sobbing Klara, the ends of his sentence drifting away.

“….Apologies. She hasn’t been in the team for long. She’s only a level 2, and thus is a bit lacking in some areas.” (Samuel)

He revealed the reason for the break with an embarra.s.sed tone of voice. Ian scanned his surroundings, not really minding it.

“Now that I think about it, we haven’t taken a single break since we entered the forest in the morning. And, the meal time has flown by us as well. Right, shall we take a break here, then?” (Ian)

“You mean, right here? But….” (Samuel)

“It’ll be fine. If you’re worried about the effects of the Forest of Denial, then I believe we’ll be fine.” (Ian)

“Is that true?” (Samuel)

Ian nodded his head.

“A Sorcerer is more sensitive to the flow of magical energy. If my hypothesis is correct, then the boundary for the activation of that defence spell will be just beyond where we are right now.” (Ian)

“Is… that so?” (Samuel)

For a brief moment there, a strange light flickered within Samuel’s eyes. It was truly for an infinitesimally short time, though.

“It is hard to believe, isn’t it? A magic spell that encompa.s.ses this ma.s.sive forest.” (Samuel)

“Well, he was called a sage even by the people of the ancient Empire. You shouldn’t even compare him to a fake like me. Oh, it’s just my supposition, so don’t get too hung up over it, though.” (Ian)

Ian waved his hand around and settled down with a bit of groan.

“Everyone, we take a short break! Eat something, if you’re hungry!” (Samuel)

Samuel shouted out loudly, and then, silently stared at Klara for a while. He stood there staring at her as if he was caught in a dilemma, before calling out to Alex, who was still unable to calm down even now.

“Alex, let’s talk for a bit.” (Samuel)

Samuel dragged Alex away to a distance and they spoke softly to each other for a while. Alex formed a troubled expression and s.h.i.+fted his gaze towards Klara, now in the middle of being pacified by Grace.

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Next up, Samuel walked over to Klara. His expression seemed determined, as if he had made his mind up over something.

“Klara. We need to talk.” (Samuel)

“Sob! But, that b*stard…!” (Klara)

“Stop! You are not a little kid anymore! Don’t you understand that your actions are negatively impacting the atmosphere of this expedition?” (Samuel)

Klara continued to sniff away in bitterness.

“I only, I…!” (Klara)

“I hear you. I hear you, so lower your voice. I’ll listen to whatever you want to say, so come with me.” (Samuel)

Samuel spat out in irritation, grabbed her arm, and dragged her deeper into the forest. Grace wordlessly followed after the two and disappeared from the view as well.

“What a dumb*ss little b*tch. Seriously now.” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong spat out some mocking words while chewing on the dried jerky.

“Cho Hong.” (Dylan)

Dylan quickly warned her, since Alex had joined them again. But the latter simply waved his hand about with a weak smile on his face.

“No, no. It’s fine. Honestly, even I don’t have anything to say in her defence…. Tsk.” (Alex)

While looking at Alex clicking his tongue, Hugo opened his mouth.

“Will it be fine for you to not chase after them?” (Hugo)

“Mm?” (Alex)

Hugo raised his pinky.

“I mean, she’s your gal, right? Didn’t Samuel ask you just now to pacify her somehow?” (Hugo)

“Well, that….” (Alex)

Alex’s shoulders drooped real low, before he messily tousled his hair.

“Argh, d*mn it! I don’t know anymore.” (Alex)

“I won’t help you if you get into trouble later~.” (Hugo)

Hugo giggled loudly. Alex spat out a long sigh and pulled the altar out from his bag. He carelessly placed a couple of plates on it, before throwing on some food there. Seeing this, Cho Hong couldn’t help but ask.

“What are you doing? What are you doing with the food?” (Cho Hong)

“I want to at least get her to eat something. Also, I should let the others have a chow, too.” (Alex)

Alex spoke while not even turning to face her.

“Why doesn’t she just come over here and eat, instead?” (Cho Hong)

“With her personality, she’s not gonna calm down anytime soon. All I can do is feed her and hope for the best.” (Alex)

“Well, sure thing. Come back after doing what you think is the best. However, if she comes back here and continues on with that b*tchy att.i.tude of hers, I ain’t gonna take it lying down. Okay?” (Cho Hong)

“Che. I hear you. But still, aren’t you too openly favouring someone here?” (Alex)

Alex carefully picked the altar up and began walking towards where the rest of his teammates had gone off to. Meanwhile, Cho Hong glanced to her side after her ‘sore spot’ was accurately pointed out. Seol Ji-Hu was sitting a bit further away, busy sucking on a cigarette.

Hugo stopped gulping down on food and sneakily approached the youth, before reaching out with his cupped hands. Seol chuckled and pulled out a new cigarette for him.

“Keuh! As expected, Seol, you really are quick on the uptake, you know.” (Hugo)

Hugo grinned brightly and lightly tapped the youth’s shoulder.

“You aren’t feeling down from that fight, right?” (Hugo)

“No ways.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“That’s right. You haven’t done anything wrong. Even I didn’t want to touch that coffin, you know.” (Hugo)

“Really?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Yup. It’s like, I was kinda tempted back there, but like, my instincts stopped me from doing anything, you know? I kept getting this feeling that I should not touch that coffin.” (Hugo)

Seol Ji-Hu looked at Hugo with renewed interest. The big man’s Job was supposed to be the ‘Barbarian Warrior’, so the youth couldn’t help but wonder if he possessed some sort of animalistic wild instinct or some type of skill like that.

“Besides all that. My man, you looked pretty d*mn cool back then, you know?” (Hugo)

“?”

With a cigarette still stuck between his lips, Hugo stood back up. He then a.s.sumed the position of aiming something to his front and formed a grave, intense expression.

“….If you really want it, then try to take it over my dead body.” (Hugo)

Cho Hong burst out in a boisterous laughter. Even Dylan began chuckling quietly as well. Seol Ji-Hu’s cheeks reddened instantly.

“Did I really say that?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“That’s right, you did! Wowsers, I really wet my pants just then!” (Hugo)

“Well, I…. I just couldn’t understand it. I still can’t tell if that thing was worth all that greed.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“It was definitely enough to rouse that sort of greed.” (Ian)

Seol Ji-Hu said what came to his mind so he could change the topic, but a reply did come, anyway.

“I don’t know much about the necklace itself, but I know well enough what that keepsake, the token, was.” (Ian)

Ian lightly ma.s.saged the back of his neck and carried on.

“If my memory serves me correctly, then that thing was most likely the ‘Proof of Cast.i.tas’.” (Ian)

“Proof of…. what?” (Hugo)

When Hugo asked back, Ian clarified.

“It’s the proof of one’s chast.i.ty. It’s one of the artefacts given to a saintess.” (Ian) (TL: “Cast.i.tas” is a Latin word for ‘chast.i.ty’. The author came up with that name, not me.)

“But, wasn’t her becoming a saint only a symbolic gesture?” (Hugo)

“Well, it’s not only the chaste women who get canonised as saints, after all. Also, since you’re a symbolic existence, you’d be asked to appear publicly every now and then, don’t you think so?” (Ian)