STM 61

I suggested proper self-treatment, but it only made the other person laugh.

“My ears are fine. I heard what you said to that rock.”

“……Whatever you heard was all a hallucination.”

I shamelessly denied it, but the man just laughed. Even though he was still sweating and struggling. That looked… sexy.

I guess I’m the crazy one.

I shook my head and turned away. That annoying guy isn’t even my type.

“I’ll just go ahead and take a look around here.”

“Thank you.”

Pause.

I stopped moving as if I heard something I shouldn’t. like someone who heard something they weren’t supposed to. I was fortunate that my expression was invisible in the darkness. But it took me some time to respond calmly.

“What is it? ……Why are you laughing?”

“Because I just found out the word that makes you embarrassed.”

“I’m not embarrassed at all. I just thought your head must hurt since you said something so strange.”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“…….”

“I didn’t laugh this time.”

“I know,” I muttered, deliberately putting on a face. I didn’t want to be misunderstood as embarrassed again..

“There is no need to thank me. The Grand Duke saved my life first.”

“Right.”

He agreed that easily?

I felt cheated for being embarrassed earlier. Maybe it showed on my face because he laughed again.

It wasn’t his usual sly, sarcastic laugh, but he wasn’t angry, and it was still uncomfortable. He was enjoying watching me.

I deliberately looked away.

“And it’s my fault you’re not feeling well right now. I dragged you to the Forest of Crimson Waves.”

He didn’t answer, but I kept talking without looking at him.

“Please wait a moment and I will check your location…”

“Ugh.”

Tairok swallowed a groan of pain. I grabbed his shoulder and realized his temperature was quite high. I placed my hand on his forehead and it was a fiery blaze.

“I’ll see if someone can help.”

“Don’t do it.”

“Now is not the time to worry about face.”

“Haa, this is Borhumi.”

Borhumi? The one behind my kidnapping and the one looking for Baron Owick?

I’d almost died to Ottma, his right hand, not long ago. And wasn’t Borhumi Zav Tairok’s nemesis?

“Is this Borhumi’s territory?”

Tairok kept his eyes closed, sweating dripping down his face, twisting his mouth.

“It’s the underground tomb of his ancestors.”

A… tomb?!

Boom.

Then a loud noise echoed inside. I stepped forward, careful not to be exposed in the darkness, and looked down.

The only iron door leading inside opened, and two people entered: a young man and another with a hood pulled down low.

Inside, even the smallest sound resonated loudly, so the hooded figure voice could be identified as that of an old man. He called out to the young man.

“Lord Zav.”

Zav? Grand Duke Borhumi?

I tried not to make a sound and moved to a spot with a better view. Fortunately I was high enough to watch them.

The young man had blue hair tied back in a single tail, and the old man had his hood so deep he’d covered his nose too, so I couldn’t get a good look at his face.

“This is not the place. The divine beast will be enraged.”

“Enraged? So be it, then! Even though I’ve tried and tried my power’s getting weaker!”

Getting weaker? I’d barely eavesdropped for less than ten seconds, and I caught a big fish. Then the old man gave me some advice in a firm voice.

“Didn’t I tell you? This is something that will be resolved over time.”

“That damn time, how much longer do I have to wait? And in the meantime, am I supposed to hold out with this kind of strength? I told you! It’s getting weaker and weaker!”

Zav’s voice was quite agitated. The huge plaza resonated like a concert hall, and Zav’s anger reverberated through the space. And t he reason he was venting his anger was because of someone I knew.

“I wield divine beast power and that bastard Tairok absorbed my power. He mocked me! Dorgo do you know how I feel?!”

Zav couldn’t hide his anger, his fists clenched and trembling. To me, he loo ked like a pitiful child throwing a tantrum, but the old man called Dorgo calmly soothed him, as if he were used to seeing him often.

“You must quell your anger now. In a few months, you will possess a power so great that even Grand Duke Kun will look like a mere joke. You mustn’t let i mpatience ruin your work.”

A greater power? Zav already uses divine beast power. What’s an even bigger power supposed to be?

I held my breath and focused on their conversation. Then I heard Zav’s irritated voice.

“A few months? You’ve said that before. How many times have you postponed this? What about the humiliations I suffered in the meantime? That bastard Tairok blocked me with a single sword even without divine beast power. And he did it easily!”

Zav shouted, then suddenly scanned the vast hall.

“How useful is divine beast power if you can’t handle one Tairok?”

“Grand Duke, the divine beast can hear things here.”

“If it can hear, let it hear! It should know the divine beast’s power can’t even touch a single human!”

As Zav’s words grew more intense, even Dorgo, who had been responding calmly, could no longer stand by and watch. He issued a low warning.

“Do you want to offend the divine beast so much that it prevents us from using that power? If that’s what you want, shout louder.”

“You, you’re saying to me…”

“Do you truly wish to lose the divine beast’s power?”

The once-raging Zav clenched his jaw. However, it seemed he hadn’t completely let go of his frustration, as he blurted out an excuse.

“The divine beast is confined there anyway. It can’t properly hear me here”

“No. You must be cautious, more cautious.”

Dorgo spoke and suddenly raised his head.

Could he have noticed me?

I lowered my body in surprise, but he just looked around the interior.
Then, looking into Dorgo’s dark eyes, I noticed something strange. My first impression was a creepy, unfamiliar feeling.

I couldn’t say why, but those weren’t quite human eyes. They felt like glass beads with no soul, like a doll’s eyes.

For some reason, they didn’t seem human. They felt like soulless glass balls, like the eyes of a doll.

Why are his eyes like that? My confusion was soon forgotten as I heard Dorgo’s next words.

“Even if the divine beast is trapped, we must never be careless.”

Trapped? The divine beast?

That was unbelievable. A divine beast is literally a godlike being. How could humans imprison a god?

“How long has it been trapped, and you are saying that again? If the divine beast could come out on its own, it would’ve come out already.”

Zav snorted.

“Maybe the divine beast has a problem? This feels wrong. Its power is weakening.”

“Didn’t I tell you? The divine beast is in a rest period now. I’m working to make it awaken with greater power.”

“Yeah, so you’ve been getting me whatever you wanted, slaves or black stones or whatever. Then why does the time keep getting pushed back? My power is getting weaker!”

“”No matter how many times you tell me, my answer remains the same. It’s almost ready. The divine beast will awaken from its rest with tremendous power, and Zav will become the master of this land.”

“Haa,” Zav’s sighed, almost as if he was cursing. He seemed quite annoyed by the wait. Dorgo spoke softly, soothing him.

“Haven’t you seen with your own eyes that the shield containing the divine beast is functioning properly? What’s there to be anxious about? Nothing will go wrong as long as the divine beast doesn’t leave.”

Seen? Ah. So that’s probably why they came here. But Zav didn’t relax, and Dorgo’s voice grew stern.

“If you want power right now, there’s only one way. Train. Shall I open the gate of the lake now?”

Apparently the lake was a place Zav hated. He recoiled and shouted.

“Fuck, why would I go to the lake?!”

“You need to go to the lake to train.”

Zav shook his head in horror at Dorgo’s suggestion. It seemed like a truly te rrifying place to him.

“Because of that damned training, I suffered so much at the lake when I wa s young. Just hearing about the lake makes me sick.”

“But you want power right now, so train…..”

“Damn it, that damn training! If training was going to work in the first place, I wouldn’t have locked up the divine beast! I’m not training anymore. Do you u nderstand?”

Zav’s voice resonated within me. I don’t know what kind of training it was, but it must have been tough. But he was like an elementary school student, refusing to do anything, just complaining that it was hard. And then, like a real child, he threw a tantrum.

“I need a method that works immediately. If you don’t know anything, be honest. Don’t force me to practice alone.”

“Lord Zav.”

“Don’t just call my name. Tell me another way!”

Zav threw a tantrum again, but Dorgo’s voice remained unchanged.

“The only other way is the Salvation. Seek Salvation.”