When the drizzle that had carelessly wet the parched land stopped, the sun that had been crumpled by the heavy dark clouds raised its head late at noon. The darkness that had been rampant loosened and life returned to the ground.
Ruon deeply breathed in the clear air. As the fresh scent of the wet leaf mold filled his lungs, he felt his churning stomach settle a bit.
Tarwen, who was brushing off the damp leaves that had stuck to her cloak, asked.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“A little.”
“It’s true that long-distance portals have a considerable effect on the mind and body, but I’ve never seen anyone suffer as long as you.”
She clasped her chin with a thoughtful expression.
“They say that the more developed your senses are, the more you are affected by it… Could it be because of that? How interesting. How superhuman are your senses…”
Interesting my ass.
Ruon let her mutterings pass through one ear and spat saliva on the ground. He rubbed the dirty leaves with his toes and scattered them, and he unconsciously frowned as he recalled the moment he had entered the portal.
It was a terribly unpleasant experience.
He couldn’t bear the feeling of being exposed to the situation where the world, broken like a barcode, shattered, scattered, crumpled, mixed, disappeared, and appeared thousands of times in a second, no matter how much he was Ruon.
The funny thing was that Tarwen, Jonathan, and Nightmare, who had boarded the portal with him, only complained of mild dizziness. None of them sensed the detailed changes like he did.
That was also a shitty feeling, and Ruon eventually decided never to ride the portal again.
That was three days ago.
Ruon stretched out his arm toward the fairy who was still immersed in her own world and snapped his fingers.
“Are you going to write a paper on the portal? How about being faithful to your role as a guide for now?”
At that, Tarwen, who had come to her senses, lifted her head.
“Oh, right.”
She looked around for a moment and then pointed her chin in the direction where the bushes were sparse.
“If you walk diligently over there, you’ll soon come across a village. What was its name? ‘Crow’s Head’ or something. It’s a place where they have a tavern that sells amazing honey wine. Let’s spend the day there.”
Ruon tilted his head and looked up at the sky. The faint sunlight tickled his face.
“It’s still early for the sun to set. Can’t we just pass by?”
Tarwen sighed softly and answered.
“Then we’ll have to camp out again today. The next village is quite far away…”
She shrugged her shoulders lightly and added.
“I’ll follow your opinion. What do you want to do?”
Should I rest properly for a day?
Ruon muttered to himself as he looked at the fairy’s weary face. She had been moving non-stop for the past three days, except for sleeping.
The reason why the two of them had continued their forced march even though they had narrowed the distance in a breath by using the portal was because their location was ambiguous.
The place they arrived with Jonathan’s help was an old temple of Tivela in the deep forest. Tarwen figured out that this place was still more than a fortnight away from the cradle.
Of course, that was also a great achievement. They had shortened the journey that would have taken more than two months to a fortnight.
But instead of being satisfied with that, the two of them decided to quickly head to the cradle while the witch and the pursuers missed their location.
That led to the forced march for the past three days.
Ruon nodded his head.
“We’ve been working hard for a few days, so it wouldn’t be bad to relax for a day.”
Tarwen pretended not to hold her breath and let out a sigh of relief at his words.
“Let’s go quickly. The honey wine there is really delicious. You’ll definitely like it too.”
***
Over the long years, the huge granite rock that had been carved by the wind and rain looked just like a crow.
The fairy grinned as she pointed to the giant statue made by nature.
“We’re almost there.”
As soon as they passed the rock and entered the village, a group of men who were holding various weapons greeted the two. They all had grim expressions, as if they had made up their minds about something.
One of them asked, sticking his head out.
“Are you going to the tavern?”
“So what?”
Ruon asked back, and the man who had asked shook his head.
“They’re not open today, so don’t waste your time and look for another place.”
Tarwen looked at the man curiously and stepped forward.
“Aren’t you the tavern owner?”
“You must be new here. You got that right.”
“Why aren’t you open? What’s going on?”
The tavern owner slightly lifted the hammer with a long handle that he held in both hands and replied.
“Can’t you see?”
As soon as his words ended, Ruon walked toward the men with big strides. The men, who were intimidated by his simple walk, stepped back as a group.
“So what’s going on?”
The men couldn’t answer right away and looked at each other, murmuring.
Then, a thin middle-aged man came forward and opened his mouth.
“Why are you asking that?”
Ruon pointed at the man’s right hand with his index finger. More precisely, at the sword he was clumsily holding in his grip.
“You look like you have no affinity with swords. If you swing it around carelessly, you’ll only make people bleed.”
He added, looking at the middle-aged man who was fidgeting nervously.
“So, what’s the matter?”
The answer came from the innkeeper’s mouth.
“There’s a lion-like beast that’s been eating people near the village. It treats us like food, filling its hungry belly and then disappearing for a few days, only to come back and devour more people. It’s already done that five times. Five times, mind you.”
He continued, grinning.
“Rather than dying from the humiliation of being treated like livestock by the monster, I’d rather fight back and be torn to shreds.”
Ruon tilted his head.
“Why do you have to solve this by yourselves? What about the lord? Or at least some mercenaries?”
The innkeeper snorted.
“The lord? What use is he to us, a scoundrel who only cares about filling his own belly? Whether we’re here or not, it only makes a difference in the taxes he collects. And it’s not like we haven’t hired any mercenaries. There have been three of them who boasted that they could handle it. They’re now reborn as lion dung.”
So that’s how it was.
Ruon nodded quietly. It was nothing special in this shitty world.
A common tragedy, but not a light one.
He said.
“Then you should hire a fourth mercenary.”
“Three mercenaries died in a row, and the price of that monster lion went through the roof. They started asking for five gold coins as a reward. How can we afford that…”
The innkeeper stopped his rapid-fire speech.
Ruon looked at him with a look of disbelief.
“I’ll take the money you were going to pay the first mercenary.”
The innkeeper’s eyes widened in surprise. Then, a calm voice reached his ears.
“So, put down that hammer that doesn’t suit you, and go prepare some honey wine. Make sure it’s ready when I come back.”
***
Ruon walked along the rugged mountain path as if it were flat, tapping the black horse’s sturdy buttocks with his hand.
“Are we going the right way?”
The black horse neighed, and Ruin conveyed the meaning behind it.
-Ruon, you doubt too much-
What?
Ruon slapped the black horse’s buttocks with his palm, making a loud sound. But unlike usual, the horse didn’t cry out in pain, but instead fixed its gaze on the front.
Ruon craned his neck to see the distant yellow eyes that glowed menacingly.
He chuckled and stroked the black horse’s mane lightly as he stepped forward.
“You found it. Wait for me.”
Grrr-
The huge beast that emerged from the dense bushes roared like a predator and slowly approached.
The monster that revealed its full appearance was indeed worthy of being called a lion. Of course, only in appearance.
The intimidating mane, the sharp teeth that looked like daggers, and the thick tail with spikes.
It looked like a challenge for any mercenary.
Regardless, Ruon strode forward. There was no fear in his confident steps. Did that provoke its pride? The beast roared loudly.
Roar!
As the roar echoed and the falling leaves obscured his vision, the beast leaped with explosive force.
Ruon pulled out a dagger from his chest and threw it hard at the front. The blade that cut through the air like a ray of light was about to pierce the beast’s nose, when it roared again.
Roar!
An intangible force from its mouth pushed back the flying dagger.
The dagger that should have fallen to the ground without momentum continued its straight motion, thanks to the monstrous strength of the thrower.
The beast squinted its eyes and endured the foreign sensation of the dagger digging into its nose, and swung its huge paw.
Instead of giving up one eye, it tried to blow off the head of the damned human with one blow. But its paw was cut off with a thud.
The beast’s body lost its balance and collapsed on the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
Ruon spun his ego sword and walked toward the fallen beast.
At that moment, a sharp sound of slicing the wind came, and the beast’s tail flew at him.
Ruon caught it with his other hand and squeezed. The tail couldn’t withstand the tremendous grip and snapped like a rotten rope.
Then the beast lifted its upper body with one leg and opened its huge mouth.
Roar!
An enormous volume of intangible force swept over Ruon’s body.
The monstrous vibration inside it was relentless, as if it would shatter and destroy the opponent’s innards.
The monster roared with all its might, confident of its victory, as the human who had approached it closely could no longer move.
As the earth and rocks cracked on the ground, Ruon slowly lifted his head. He asked with a steady gaze.
“Are you done?”
His fist slammed into the monster’s torso. With a gruesome sound of bones and muscles dislocating, the beast collapsed to the ground again.
Ruon lowered his posture and looked calmly at the monster’s yellow eyes, which were writhing helplessly.
The moment the monster, who had faced an irresistible existence for the first time in its life, wet itself with hot urine in despair, a huge fist flew into its forehead.
Crack-!
The eyes that were pressed by the sunken forehead could not withstand the pressure and popped out. From the other eye where a dagger was stuck, blood oozed out, and its dagger-like teeth were also shattered.
It was a pathetic death for a monster that had treated the villagers as food and devoured the three mercenaries who had come to hunt it. At least by Ruon’s standards.
But the experience was not bad.
He smiled faintly and got up, feeling a satisfying sense of accomplishment for his efforts.
Leaving the corpse of the monster behind, he walked toward the bushes where it had emerged. There was a large cave in plain sight. Inside, he found a coin purse of a dead mercenary and chuckled bitterly. The dead mercenary had barely made ends meet with his mouth full.
Ruon cut off the monster’s neck as proof and headed down the mountain to the inn.
The passing villagers did not thank him for seeing the monster lion’s head dripping with blood, but rather ran away in horror.
He walked silently, receiving the mixed gazes of awe and fear, and stopped in front of a two-story building with a sweet fragrance tickling his nose. It was an inn.
Ruon entered the small stable attached to the inn to tie up Nightmare and was surprised by the sight.
Were they knights?
There were two sleek white horses that could be called warhorses and a much smaller pony tied together.
Did two knights and their servant visit this village to raise their fame by killing the monster lion? He imagined a pointless scenario and opened the door of the inn, only to laugh at the more absurd sight that awaited him.
Three familiar faces shouted at him, without any order.
“Ruon!”
“Lord Ruon!”
“Even at the moment of reunion, you show up with a monster’s head… How romantic.”
Ruon snorted at the noisy situation and asked.
“What are you doing here?”
