Unlike the excited Cale, the three people from the Lan Kingdom were extremely tense.
Tap tap.
In this area that only had the sound of footsteps…
There were no warriors or attendants in this path that Queen Tamahi was walking down.
The only ones here were Tamahi, Cha Run, The Chief of Staff, Cale, and Eruhaben.
It was a small pavilion located in a corner of the Lan Palace.
This place had originally been discarded, but Queen Tamahi, at some point, started using it for her meditation.
‘It was actually the place I met with the wanderer.’
Tamahi could not forget the first time she and Sir Hin Pao met a wanderer here for the first time.
‘It was when I submitted.’
Boom. Boom. Boom.
His heart was beating.
Tension filled her body.
Gulp.
She could hear Cha Run gulp because he could not control himself.
She peeked to her side to see cold sweat dripping down Cha Run’s forehead.
She could also see the Chief of Staff’s stiff expression.
‘Yeah.
We are this tense, but…’
The Dragon and Cale were calm.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Her heart started beating louder after seeing their faces.
But Tamahi did not mind this tension.
‘…I always felt a sense of helplessness whenever I went into this place.’
The sense of helplessness became worse and worse as time went by. Feeling of defeat. Despair.
That was the reason that at some point, she stopped being tense while going to this pavilion.
She had realized that nothing could be changed.
‘It’s different now.’
But all three of them, the Martial Scholar, the Chief of Staff, and herself, were tense right now.
They were able to finally do something about their situation.
‘We earned an opportunity to land a blow on the wanderer and the God of Chaos.’
How could her heart not beat wildly?
Even the elderly Cha Run and the Chief of Staff were probably not tense from fear.
It was probably from excitement.
‘Let’s be tense.’
Tamahi let the tension fill her body.
This emotion was the proper one for this situation.
“Open the door.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
It was so quiet that it was dreadfully silent in front of the pavilion.
The Chief of Staff quickly headed toward the door at her command.
Eruhaben and Cale moved in unison as well to open the door with him.
Creeeeeak.
The door at the center of a stone wall opened to reveal the front yard of the pavilion.
It was a desolate yard with only dirt, fitting for a spot for meditation.
A person was standing there.
“…….”
A woman was looking at her with a stiff expression on her face.
Tamahi let the tension show completely once she saw this woman.
The woman’s gaze moved past Tamahi to the rest of the group.
She then looked back at Tamahi and opened her mouth.
“Please come in.”
The Queen needed the wanderers permission to enter this place.
How preposterous.
But Tamahi still maintained the tension and took a step into the pavilion.
“You wait here.”
She stationed her guard knight at the entrance of the pavilion.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Her heart was beating.
Creeeeeak.
The guard knight closed the door from the outside.
Boom.
The door completely closed and the Queen entered the wanderer’s domain that was now cut off from the outside.
“…….”
The wanderer was still looking at her.
Tamahi gulped.
“…….”
The wanderer, who had been watching Tamahi the whole time, started to speak.
“You seem overly scared. It’s as if-”
Tamahi’s body stiffened from tension.
“As if you have a lot of things you feel guilty about.”
Tamahi clenched her eyes shut as soon as the wanderer finished speaking.
“…….”
The wanderer was silent.
As she stood at the center of the yard, not even a breeze blew by her.
It was so quiet and desolate.
However, that atmosphere seemed peaceful as well.
“…….”
Nobody dared to say anything.
Everybody other than Tamahi had their heads down and the Chief of Staff even had his whole body bowed and did not move at all.
“…….”
Tamahi opened her closed eyes.
She made eye contact with the wanderer.
This woman, whom she only knew as ‘the wanderer’ without even knowing her name…
“Please speak.”
She finally gave permission and Tamahi slowly opened her mouth.
Her lips were dry and the inside of her mouth was dry as well.
“Ahem.”
As such, she could not speak right away.
She was so tense that she looked pitiful.
But Tamahi had no time to pay it any attention.
“Umm-”
The wanderer just quietly watched.
Tamahi barely managed to get some words out.
“That-, yes ma’am. I do feel guilty.”
Tamahi was answering the question about whether she had a lot to feel guilty about.
“I’m sure any lies will be found out.”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Tamahi was anxious.
The chance to land the enemy a blow.
The tension from having that chance…
But the tension that would look like fear to the enemy…
“It was only for a moment, but I chased an illusion where I was able to get out of your grasp.”
“Are you talking about the Martial Arts Tournament?”
“Yes ma’am.”
The Queen politely answered.
But she also remembered to declare her feeling of being wronged.
“But that tournament failed and things ended up like this-”
“…….”
Tamahi avoided the wanderer’s gaze and continued to speak. Her voice was shaking.
“I realized that I should not chase such an illusion.”
Yes.
‘I should chase reality, not an illusion.’
“…….”
The wanderer just watched her.
Her silent gaze that was telling her to continue made Tamahi keep talking.
‘I need to do well.’
She needed to do a good job mixing lies with the truth now.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Her heart was beating.
She was sweating.
“You are here to see the wanderer, So Hee, and Sir Hin Pao, correct?”
Tamahi’s voice was shaking.
“This is what Sir Hin Pao told me.”
No, Sir Hin Pao had not said anything.
“He said that I should be able to draw some wanderers in if I opened a Martial Arts Tournament. Then-”
He had never said something like that.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Her beating heart slowly calmed down.
Something was weird.
Why was she getting so calm when she was lying?
“He said that he would take care of any wanderers we drew in through the tournament.”
She recalled a conversation she had with Cale Henituse.
‘…To be honest with you, I am scared of the wanderer. I don’t know if I can calmly lie in front of her.’
‘Please just relax, your Majesty.’
Cale had nonchalantly commented.
‘Just blame it all on Sir Hin Pao. That’s all you have to do.’
Yes. ‘Let’s do exactly as he said.’
“Sir Hin Pao said that his faction would take care of the wanderers.”
Sir Hin Pao never said that.
“Furthermore, he said that his faction is the God of Chaos’ faction and that a wanderer would never be able to defeat a god. He said that the Church of the God of Chaos would not interfere with the way we ruled the kingdom as long as we served the God of Chaos as our god.”
Truly, never. Sir Hin Pao never said any of this.
But dead men tell no tales.
Tamahi’s voice slowly became stronger.
“To be completely honest with you, I thought it would be better to serve Sir Hin Pao’s god than to lose my kingdom to you wanderers. So I did everything as he said.”
She had absolutely no thought about worshiping the God of Chaos.
“But-”
Tamahi flinched at that point.
“!”
An odd aura had landed on her shoulders.
“Mm.”
The Chief of Staff held back a groan.
Cha Run’s fingertips were shaking.
The Queen clenched her eyes shut.
It was ice.
Frost was landing on her shoulders.
Furthermore, a cold aura that chilled her entire body started from her head and extended down.
Fuck!’
The wanderer.
This woman’s power silently appeared like this and froze everything.
‘…My heart.’
At one point, the wanderer had frozen one of Tamahi’s guard’s heart.
It was to scare her.
And Tamahi did get scared.
Her guard who died without a sound…
Only his heart had been frozen.
This chilling ice.
Who could defeat a woman who could kill without a sound?
‘This person has the power to cover the whole world with snow and ice.’
She became tense again.
However, Tamahi’s eyes were clear.
‘But I saw something else.’
Cale, the Heavenly Demon, and Choi Han…
The sight that the three of them had created…
It had truly been extraordinary.
They were definitely strong enough to fight against this wanderer.
“But the moment I saw the helper that Sir Hin Pao brought with him, I realized that I made a grave mistake.”
The chilly aura temporarily stopped.
“…Helper?”
The wanderer reacted for the first time.
“Yes ma’am.”
Tamahi closed her eyes.
“That helper suppressed So Hee and calmed all of the ruckus.”
He-
“But aside from calming the ruckus, he himself was chaos.”
“!”
The wanderer’s eyes clouded over.
Tamahi opened her eyes.
“The fear that he created made it so that I had no choice but to bow my head. Furthermore, he seemed to dominate the area as I could not think about anything other than being dominated by him.”
The wanderer could feel that Tamahi’s eyes and voice were not lying.
She was definitely sharing a feeling that she had felt.
“Fear and chaos.”
“Yes, ma’am. I couldn’t help but feel like a mess at this aura I had never experienced before. And even that other wanderer, So Hee, could not resist at all. But then……”
Tamahi stopped for a moment before continuing.
“…That person fought against Sir Hin Pao.”
Tamahi’s eyes looked very focused.
“Sir Hin Pao exploded and died.”
Tamahi’s eyes were too clear to be lying.
Honestly speaking, there was some joy visible in her eyes because of Sir Hin Pao’s death.
This was not an emotion that could be created from a lie.
“…I see.”
The wanderer commented.
All of the frost on her shoulders disappeared.
‘She accepted it.’
The wanderer had accepted Tamahi’s answer.
Tamahi realized this and sighed in relief.
She just acted without lying.
The wanderer checked all of this and turned her gaze.
“And this person is the one who observed Sir Hin Pao’s death?”
The information that Cha Run had given the wanderer before going to get the Queen…
The reason he gave for pushing back her visit by half a day…
“Yes ma’am.”
Queen Tamahi motioned to the Chief of Staff with her eyes.
The Chief of Staff pushed a person forward.
“We needed him to regain consciousness to hear what he had to say and then we needed time to make him presentable to you.”
The wanderer listened to Tamahi while focusing on someone.
It was someone whose face was almost completely bound by bandages above his mouth.
The parts that were not covered by bandages showed scars from being cut as well as burns.
His hands were also shaking and his body was curled up.
No, his entire body was shivering.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
It wasn’t cold, but the way his teeth were clacking made it clear that he was very scared.
“He was one of the end of line attendants serving Sir Hin Pao.”
Tamahi explained about this person.
The wanderer spoke to the attendant who didn’t even dare to look at her.
“Is it possible to chat with him?”
Queen Tamahi let out a sigh.
“Mm.”
She shook her head.
“He just keeps saying the same thing. But I do not know if it is accurate. I brought him here for you to try to talk to him yourself.”
“…….”
The wanderer observed the attendant for a bit before finally opening her mouth.
“What did you see?”
Honestly speaking, she did not fully trust Queen Tamahi right now.
‘So Hee is not weak.’
Even if her uniqueness was at the middle of the pack… She had a persistent side that most single-lifers did not have.
But someone like her was defeated so easily and unable to be contacted?
Of course, the last message she received from So Hee said that the ‘God of Chaos’ had attacked her.
‘…It is likely that it was the truth.’
It had to be at least someone on the level of the God of Chaos to defeat a wanderer.
Even if the Queen tried to resist, she would not be able to subdue So Hee.
The lost contact with Sir Hin Pao…
The disappearance of So Hee…
Everything made her question the God of Chaos.
‘And we’ve been slowly seeing stories about the God of Chaos in New World these days.’
It was certain that they were up to something.
But she was not certain yet.
‘It is time to be careful.’
They were at the final stages of the omnipotent god.
They had to be careful about every little thing right now.
‘So if the God of Chaos really is getting in the way-’
The God of Chaos.
If their side was really responsible for this…
If the conclusion came to that…
She would definitely not leave them alone.
‘They dare to hinder our work?’
The final step.
They could not hinder the final step of the Five Colors Bloods work like this.
“What-”
She asked once more to the attendant who did not dare to look at her.
“What did you see?”
It was at that moment.
The attendant slowly raised his head.
His shaking hands covered his face.
The attendant opened his mouth and the wanderer became certain about something after hearing what he had to say.
“E, e-”
The words he said while shaking.
The words said by someone who could not really communicate right now.
“E, eyes……!”
The wanderer became certain.
‘The God of Chaos.’
This person saw the power of the God of Chaos.
Eyes.
This was something only someone who had experienced it firsthand would know.
“G, grey eyes, the eyes are charging…over……!”
“!”
Charging over.
He knew about that as well.
One of the powers the God of Chaos frequently used had eyes inside a grey aura that resembled a wave.
The attendant repeated those words over and over.
His body was shaking even more.
His body was curled up like someone completely scared and he paid no attention to the wanderer.
He looked like someone facing a wave or walls pushing in from all directions.
He did whatever he could to curl up his body and mumble about ‘eyes.’
“Ha.”
The wanderer subconsciously chuckled.
‘It’s the truth.’
The God of Chaos really did abduct So Hee and is trying to hinder their work.
She stopped paying attention to the attendant who wouldn’t look at her, the attendant who did not dare to make eye contact with her.
It was at that moment.
“Shit!”
She saw an anxious Cha Run start to move.
“!”
The wanderer flinched after turning her head.
The attendant was trying to choke himself.
He shouted.
“Beginning… Return to the beginning…! Offer up your life……!”
“Shit, stop!”
However, the attendant’s actions could not continue.
Cha Run and the Chief of Staff quickly bound his limbs.
Cha Run pulled a rope out of his pocket and tied the attendant up.
The messy-looking attendant…
The wanderer’s eyes clouded over while looking down at him.
‘Return to the beginning and offer up your life?’
The wanderer knew that she would be the only one here who knew the meaning of those words.
“I’m sorry. He keeps saying that and trying to kill himself. That is why we needed to delay the meeting, so that we can calm him down.”
“It’s okay.”
The wanderer listened to the Queen’s excuse and thought to herself.
‘The Night of the Beginning.’
The location of the religious fanatics of the God of Chaos.
The place those crazy sons of bitches did all sorts of ludicrous things because it was a Holy Land for their god.
“I see.”
‘…I can see the picture.’
The wanderer knew where she should aim for next.
There was one last thing for her to check.
She ambushed the Queen with the question.
“Why did Sir Hin Pao die?”
“I’m not sure, ma’am. He died without even leaving a corpse behind so we are unable to tell what happened.”
The Queen shook her head.
The wanderer nodded her head.
“I understand. I’m sure you don’t know.”
She would have been more suspicious if the Queen said that she knew.
Queen Tamahi did not seem to be lying. She truly had no idea why Sir Hin Pao ended up exploding. He just self-destructed while fighting against Cale.
“…….”
The wanderer looked at the attendant on the ground who had calmed down a bit once his limbs were bound.
The attendant had flailed so much that he was completely covered in dirt.
“…Huff. Huff.”
Even flailing must be difficult now as he was just breathing heavily.
The wanderer looked away without any regrets.
This human should die soon since he was affected by the power of chaos.
That was none of her business.
“Sir Hin Pao’s residence remains untouched, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am. Shall I lead you there?”
“Yes. Please do.”
The wanderer moved on to what she needed to do next.
The Queen moved to guide her and the wanderer followed behind her.
“…….”
As for the attendant, Cale, he raised his head and stared right at the wanderer’s back.
He was recording her appearance, mood, and everything.
He heard the Super Rock’s voice.
– Uniqueness. This really is similar to ancient powers.
The aura that the wanderer had used…
The frost that had fallen on their shoulders…
Furthermore, the phenomenon covering the area similar to Choi Han and Cale’s aura domains when she used that aura…
The Super Rock made an assessment.
– She is stronger than So Hee. Incomparably.
Cale agreed.
It was a small power, but he could not see the end of that power.
He could tell even better because of how calm it was.
‘Even the Heavenly Demon and Choi Han working together cannot defeat her.’
This wanderer…
She was very strong.
‘I wonder where she is on the list.’
He was curious to know how strong she was within the Five Colors Bloods.
He thought she should be on the upper levels.
‘Ice-’
As Cale was recording everything about the wanderer…
One of the ancient powers reacted.
– Ice-
This power had been showing an odd reaction since the moment frost had landed on Cale’s shoulders.
– So cold. And silent.
It was like a fierce beast licking its lips with a delicious prey in front of it.
– I’m hot. And loud.
The Fire of Destruction. The cheapskate could not hide his interest.
‘Hmm?’
As Cale was about to become unsettled at the cheapskate’s response, the cheapskate made a comment.
– It’s worth trying.
The new wanderer.
Unexpectedly, the one to show the most interest in this new wanderer was the Fire of Destruction.
—
Translator’s Comments
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