Chapter 93

A Moment of Tenderness and a New Mission

Jun-sang offered the little squirrel, who had come in from the cold outside, a handful of walnuts and peanuts. Mongmong, who had been impatiently tapping the table, quickly stuffed the nuts into its pouches as soon as they appeared. Then, feigning innocence, it began to crack and eat them one by one.

Heness, watching with a smile, flinched when Jun-sang approached her and quietly took off her gloves. Jun-sang, ignoring her reaction, gently massaged her reddened hands. Although the regeneration ability had significantly reduced the swelling, they still felt a bit puffy.

“J-Jun-sang-ssi.” Heness, surprised by his sudden action, called his name. Jun-sang then summoned Snowflake, one of the spirits that had been guarding the perimeter outside.

“Snowflake, cool her hands.” The small ice spirit landed on her hands and began to cool the swelling.

“Ugh…” Heness flinched at the cold sensation and pulled her hands back. Jun-sang quietly said, “Wouldn’t it be better to use a weapon after all?”

But Heness immediately expressed her refusal, as if the idea was preposterous. “No!” She swallowed the words that rose to her throat, “Then I can’t learn from you,” and vehemently shook her head several times.

“Hoo…” Jun-sang sighed, looking at Heness. Often, people talk about all paths leading to one, suggesting that if you’re good with a sword, you’re also good with your fists, as if the sword is an extension of the hand. However, the idea of “all paths leading to one” truly only applies to someone who has reached the pinnacle of their art and has nowhere higher to climb. It certainly doesn’t apply to someone who is just beginning to learn martial arts.

Fundamentally, weapon techniques and hand-to-hand combat utilize different muscle groups. Even within weapon techniques alone, it’s the same. From the basic way of walking, gripping the weapon, gaze, and center of gravity – the training methods vary wildly depending on the weapon used. Jun-sang’s expertise was hand-to-hand combat based on boxing. He chose hand-to-hand combat because weapon techniques are fundamentally halved in power if the weapon is lost, whereas hand-to-hand combat can maximize its power in any situation. Although he had been primarily using weapons like Langdajal’s Rage and Bloodsucker lately, these weapons fundamentally rely on brute force to crush enemies instantly, so it was true that they lacked subtle technique. Nevertheless, Jun-sang’s core strength still lay in his hand-to-hand combat skills.

Given this situation, the only thing Jun-sang could teach Heness was hand-to-hand combat.

“So stubborn…”

“…” Jun-sang shook his head. Still, it was something that she had completed her first battle safely. Jun-sang reached out his hand again and gently stroked the faint mark left on her face.

“Did it hurt?” Heness shook her head at Jun-sang’s question.

“I didn’t even have time to feel pain.”

“…” That likely meant she was completely immersed in the battle. Jun-sang nodded, then calmly said, “Rest. I’ll call you when the enemy appears again.”

“Okay.” Heness plopped onto the bed with her combat boots still on. As she was about to close her eyes, she suddenly realized something. Lying alone in bed felt strangely empty. Why? The reason was simple. At some point, sharing a bed with him had become too natural.

“…” Heness was so embarrassed by the very thought that she quickly reached for a pillow and covered her face. And she began to squirm on the bed, squealing silently to herself.

“…” Jun-sang chuckled softly at the sight of Heness squirming alone on the bed, clutching a pillow. And he felt relieved. Fortunately, the shock of her first kill didn’t seem too severe. She seemed fully awake, so should he make her a cup of warm cocoa? As he thought that and began to get up, Jun-sang suddenly noticed, through the spirits guarding the area, that something was rapidly approaching from a distance again.

“Hmm…” As Jun-sang got up, Heness, who had been squirming silently with the pillow, quickly reacted.

“Is it the enemy?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go out and see; you rest.”

“But…”

“Listen to me.”

“Okay.” At Jun-sang’s forceful words, Heness pouted and turned over, burying her face in the blanket. She had finally gotten a kiss, too. Not just a peck, but a kiss. And they had been embracing for a long time. Heness was disappointed by Jun-sang’s tone, which still treated her like a child. Of course, Heness had no idea that she didn’t truly understand the difference between a peck and a kiss.

However, Jun-sang, not suspecting her thoughts in the slightest, simply walked out of the container house and immediately summoned his Ghost Horse, mounting it. As if on cue, Mongmong quickly scurried over and naturally climbed onto Jun-sang’s shoulder.

The three people, shivering to their bones from the early morning chill beside the dying bonfire, startled and rose to their feet when Jun-sang came out again.

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know.”

But whether they whispered amongst themselves or not, Jun-sang left the wolves guarding the container house and rode his Ghost Horse north. Soon after, he spotted a group of people being chased by monsters. Leading the escape was a group of people dressed in somewhat luxurious clothes, and behind them, three or four armed soldiers were struggling to hold off the pursuing monsters, barely managing to flee.

Upon seeing this, Jun-sang immediately unsummoned his Ghost Horse and used Grunwald’s Cloak to conceal himself. He then used Phase Shift repeatedly to instantly move into the midst of the monsters. The monsters, gleefully chasing the soldiers and shooting crude arrows, shrieked in surprise as a man cloaked in a dark, blanket-like mantle suddenly appeared in the middle of their formation.

“Kyaaak!” It was a shriek both to signal an alert to their comrades and to threaten the newly appeared enemy, but unfortunately, it became their last testament. Jun-sang mercilessly wielded Langdajal’s Rage and unleashed Dual Storm.

Kwagagagak! The enormous iron ball, a meter in diameter, mercilessly tore through the air, crushing and pulverizing the monsters’ bodies. Then, Mongmong, who had been watching from a distance, ran over and began to pick up the Seeds from inside the monsters’ heads and the scattered items around them.

The people who had been scrambling to escape inadvertently looked back at the sound of something exploding and grinding, and discovered Jun-sang, who was sweeping through the monsters like a storm.

“Th-that, what on earth…” And as Jun-sang, who had crushed the monsters, put Langdajal’s Rage back into his inventory and approached, they swallowed hard.

“Are you refugees?” The middle-aged man leading them, nodded and replied, “Yes. I am…” The man tried to introduce himself, but Jun-sang raised a hand to stop him.

“I will guide you to the Heavenly Bridge. Follow me.”

“…” One of the soldiers standing beside the man showed a defiant expression at Jun-sang’s words, but recalling the terrifying sight they had just witnessed, he quickly shut his mouth. Jun-sang summoned his Ghost Horse again and mounted it. Then Mongmong, having finished collecting items, quickly climbed onto Jun-sang’s shoulder.

As he led another group of refugees back to the bridge, the wolves sitting in front of the container house all stood up and ran towards their master. The refugees were terrified, almost fainting, as the calf-sized wolves suddenly swarmed, but then they breathed a sigh of relief again when they saw the wolves line up as if to escort Jun-sang.

Upon arriving at the Heavenly Bridge, Jun-sang said to the refugees, “Wait a moment.” He then unsummoned his Ghost Horse and simply entered the container house. The other three, not wanting to ignore him out of fear of his power, yet shivering to the bone from the cold canyon wind if they continued to stand, found themselves in an awkward predicament. As they stood there bewildered, the container house door opened again, and Jun-sang appeared with Heness.

Jun-sang immediately put the container house back into his inventory and approached the middle-aged man who was leading the refugees, with Heness by his side. Then Heness asked Jun-sang, “Is this the person?”

“Yes.” As Jun-sang nodded, Heness smiled brightly and said to the middle-aged man, “You’re Dunstrel, aren’t you?”

Dunstrel was surprised to hear his name suddenly spoken by the brown-haired girl. “Y-yes, that’s right?”

“Nice to meet you.”

“N-nice to meet you too.”

“You probably have something to ask. Please tell me.”

“…” Dunstrel was flustered by Heness’s sudden words, but he cautiously continued, assuming it was another mysterious ability of these foreigners. After all, if they could make a large house disappear in an instant, knowing his name was no big deal.

“First, let me introduce myself. I am Dunstrel, the Second Prince of the Eshtalen Royal Family.”

At his words, Heness was greatly surprised. She had never dreamed that the person she was speaking to would be a prince of Eshtalen. Heness quickly placed both hands on her chest and bowed to show her respect. “I apologize for not recognizing you. Please forgive my rudeness.”

Dunstrel was equally surprised. He had simply thought she was a foreigner who appeared with light, but she had suddenly performed a bow using the etiquette of the southern continent. Dunstrel, placing both hands on his chest as Heness had done, bowed slightly and replied, “It’s alright, please stand up.”

“Thank you.” Dunstrel cleared his throat briefly and then continued, “If I may be so bold, I have a favor to ask.”

“Please speak.” With Heness’s permission, Dunstrel motioned with his eyes towards Jun-sang, who was looking at the refugees with an indifferent gaze, and asked, “In my life, I have never met anyone who spoke to me so naturally, without formality, except my parents. Their status must be extraordinary, could you perhaps tell me?”

At his words, Heness answered in a small voice, “Actually, this is a secret… but I’ll only tell you, Your Highness.”

“Oh, thank you. Yes, please tell me.” Heness leaned in and whispered into Dunstrel’s ear, “Actually, that person… is a royal from Silla, the Millennium Kingdom in another world.”

“Ohh… Silla, the Millennium Kingdom!”

“It’s a secret. Okay?”

“I understand. I’ll keep it to myself.”

However, as with all secrets, it didn’t take long for the conversation of that day to spread from mouth to mouth.

As Dunstrel, along with the three players and his retinue, crossed the bridge, Jun-sang quietly asked Heness, “You seemed to be whispering earlier, what did you say?” At his question, Heness winked one eye and replied, “A lie.”

“A lie?”

“Something like that.”

“…”