IBSFW 08

Chapter – 08

I slung a rather large bag, stuffed full with this and that, over my shoulder. The cloth bag was so heavy it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a backpack. The straps dug deeply into my shoulders, which said it all. Even though I had only packed the absolute essentials, this was the result. I could clearly foresee the hardship this bag would cause me in the future.

The old man, who had been watching me struggle with the weight, asked, “Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“Going to Franz with Miss Eileen. In my opinion, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to go.”

“What kind of talk is that, now of all times? Who else would go in my place?”

“There are plenty of people.”

“Have you forgotten that she personally指名 asked for me as her companion?”

“What does that matter? This is Pungrimhwasan. It’s not the Papal State.”

Worry was deeply embedded in every word the old man spoke. It felt strange, as if he was treating me like a child being sent out to the water’s edge. Not that it was a bad feeling, it’s just that a corner of my heart felt ticklish, so to speak.

Six months since we met.
There were times when he treated me more like a grandson than a disciple or a guest.

A grandson.
I’ll say it now; he was a character modeled after my late grandfather.

The protagonist, Kang Joo-hyuk.
While conceptualizing an unconditional, unrequiting helper for him in the Istalanicia Chronicles, he naturally turned out that way.

I took a fresh look at his white martial arts uniform, his white tied-up ponytail, the finely wrinkled wrinkles on his face, and his trained body, and spoke soothingly.
“What could possibly happen?”

“One never knows. What if bandits appear and demand you hand over everything you have? I’m not saying this as a joke.”

“Then I’ll just have to defeat them all.”

“With your skills?”

“…Didn’t you say once that I had become quite usable?”

“That’s about your swordsmanship. Dealing with people is a problem of a different dimension, isn’t it? Since we’re on the topic, let me ask you: can you swing a sword at a person?”

The old man’s question, tinged with doubt, was valid.
The point of a sword aimed at a person must be filled with the will to do so.
For the blood on a sword swung without will transforms into poison and will assail its owner.
Something the old man had once told me.

I answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”

“…If you say so to that extent, I won’t hold you back any longer. Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown old and fretful. This anxiety just won’t leave me. Here. Take this.”

He rummaged in a small pouch attached to his pants and pulled something out.
It was a small coin made of platinum.
Intricately engraved with a sword, wind, forest, fire, and mountain.

This, to me?
While I couldn’t hide my inner surprise, I outwardly feigned nonchalance and asked in a joking tone.
“Travel expenses?”

“Tsk. Franz currently has the kingdom’s soldiers stationed there. An investigation team, I think they said. They won’t just let you, an immigrant, come and go as you please. Even with Miss Eileen accompanying you, it’s not certain. When the time comes, show it to the fellow who seems to have the highest rank. It will be of help. Don’t even think about forgetting it. Yes. It’s an identification.”

Certainly, there was no identification quite like this.
The problem was that its purpose wasn’t limited to just confirming the owner’s identity.

『Load.
Representative of Pungrimhwasan.
‘The name of the group, you mean?
Hmm. Huh…
…As swift as the wind, as quiet as the forest, as fierce as the fire, as immovable as the mountain. Yes. Pungrimhwasan (Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain) sounds good.’

Sword Saint Gared has transferred one platinum coin to you.
Although it’s called a coin, it holds no special monetary value.
Unless you melt it down with heat to get a few grams of platinum, no merchant on the continent would exchange goods for it.
This is a token made when the association, Pungrimhwasan, was first established.
Association Head Gared would often give this to his subordinates when entrusting them with important tasks for the association.
It also signifies entrusting the full authority of Pungrimhwasan to the possessor,
so receiving this token itself means you have earned the high trust of the association head.
Throughout the Kingdom of Etilheda and beyond, within the regions where Pungrimhwasan’s fame has spread, there is no one who doesn’t know of this.
You can use this token to elicit a reaction from others.
They may become favorable, or perhaps hostile, but one thing is certain: they cannot help but be conscious of the association Pungrimhwasan and Sword Saint Gared behind you.
In other words, receiving this token is the same as Gared acknowledging you as a representative of Pungrimhwasan, a representative of the Sword Saint.
Be cautious.
You must be aware that every action and word you make while revealing yourself as the token’s owner represents the will of Pungrimhwasan.』

This wasn’t some mere pass.
As the message said, it was a commemorative token from the founding of Pungrimhwasan.
According to the novel’s content, this item only barely appeared around Volume 4.
I couldn’t fathom the Sword Saint’s intentions at all.
If he was worried about the Kingdom’s army’s sanctions, a personally written letter would have been sufficient.
One couldn’t help but wonder if he was just using the association head’s seal for the sake of it.

“Why… why are you so worried about me?”
“Aren’t you also a member of Pungrimhwasan?”
“A one-year member?”
“Is the duration that important? Moreover.”

The Sword Saint’s benevolent gaze sharpened momentarily, piercing into me.
An oppressive aura, hard to bear, constricted me.
Under the pressure of a sublime being who had lived for over a century, I could only shrink back.

“You. Are you going to do something important?”
“…….”
“Don’t even think of hiding it. I can tell by looking at your eyes.”
“Every time with that ‘I can tell by looking at your eyes.’ Aren’t you tired of it? You don’t actually have some kind of mind-reading ability, do you?”
“I think I finally understand why you devoted yourself so intensely to training. Tell me. Whether you need it or not.”

“…I’ll keep it safe and return it to you.”
“You should. Hmm.”

The old man didn’t speak to me again after that mutter.
I was the same.
The weight on my shoulders seemed to have lessened a bit.
Even if it was just my imagination, it felt good.

I left the association.
I didn’t say I would be back.

***

I walked slowly, step by step, towards the gate.
Summer was approaching, but the air in the early morning hours was still cold.
Especially in these highlands.

Feeling the pleasant sensation of the clear wind creeping through my clothes, I suddenly turned my gaze to the area near where I had come from.
Danan was a beautiful city.
If you saw the sight of the buildings, built with bricks of a reddish hue close to vermilion, glittering under the dawn sun climbing the emerald green mountain, anyone would be unable to resist admiration.

Steeped in such unfamiliar sentiments, I arrived at the gate, where a girl dressed in voluminous white clothes was already waiting.
Needless to say, it was Eileen.
She had her arms crossed and was tapping her forearm with her fingers. *Tap, tap, tap.*

“You’re late.”
It was more frightening than amazing how this blind woman, who couldn’t see, somehow knew with almost supernatural perception that I had arrived.
Since it was true that I was later than the promised time, I flinched and fumbled, which prompted a cascade of acrid words to fall like a waterfall.

“Are you that? A turtle? No, that’s not it. I apologize to the turtles. A slug. I shall call you Slug D from now on. There must be at least three slugs in this world more diligent and faster than you.”
“…….”
“Have you turned to stone?”
“…….”
“Or was your goal to detain this busy body here?”

“Alright. Let’s just get going quickly.”
“Pathetic. Mark my words. There will not be a second time.”

*Hoo.* An uncontrolled sigh rose through my throat and scattered like smoke.
It would take at least a week to get to Franz.
My head was already starting to ache.

Then, prompted by a question, I subtly raised my head and looked around.
They weren’t there.

“You. Where are your attendants?”
I say it again, but she had the disability of not being able to observe her surroundings through her eyes.
There was no way she could have come alone from the Papal State, at the southwestern edge of the continent, all the way to Franz, nor was it likely.
Even though I hadn’t met them directly, it didn’t make sense for there to be no attendants when a carriage engraved with the church’s insignia was prominently parked at Pungrimhwasan.

Ultimately, it meant she hadn’t brought them along on the journey to Franz.
“Isn’t life originally about living alone?”
So she hadn’t brought them.

Eileen.
She was the church’s headache in many ways.
The Saint’s daughter.
The attendants assigned to her.
They were called attendants, but they were little different from watchers.
The fact that she had left them behind meant she wished for her actions to be free from the church’s eyes.
It was a choice so wise you could almost applaud it.
The watchers were probably in an uproar by now, but that was none of my business.

Then, a branch of my thoughts reached a certain point.
Eileen is alone.
I am alone.
Meaning, the two of us had to head to Franz together.

“You seem to be harboring sinister thoughts.”
“No, it’s not that…”
It wasn’t about a man and a woman being together alone or anything like that.

Didn’t I say it?
She is literally blind.
As if sensing my doubt, she spoke again.

“It’s not that I see absolutely nothing. Faintly, just a little. I can’t distinguish what others call colors, and even what I can see is mostly shrouded in darkness, barely enough to tell if something is right in front of my face. But at least I won’t fall flat on my face while walking.”
She was saying, ‘Isn’t that enough?’

It felt a bit awkward, but since she was speaking so confidently, it didn’t seem like it would be a big problem.
In the original story, she wasn’t a character who was completely immobile without help either.
She just didn’t like to move unless she had to.
Hadn’t she actually come up to this highland gate of Danan alone?

“Then let’s depart.”
“Okay.”

She and I simultaneously walked into the gate where the scenery of our destination shimmered.

***

“Traveling an unknown road by one’s own strength is not a pleasant thing. Tsk. Especially in a forest like this.”
“Be careful. Especially underfoot. It’s uneven. If you sprain something, it’ll be a big problem.”
“I am currently gathering all the caution I will need for my entire life. Hoo.”
“If it’s too much, shall we rest a bit? You look tired.”
“Are you planning to act foolishly, drunk on pity? You slug. Whereabouts is the sun right now?”
“…There’s not much time left until sunset.”
“Then if we rest here, does that mean we’ll be spending the night in this forest? Are you perhaps a demon or a druid? To even consider an action that the wicked creatures and beasts of the night would love to death.”
“That’s not it, but…”
“Right. Then shouldn’t we somehow get through here before the sun sets? Is there time to rest?”
“There isn’t.”
“You foolish thing. It’s alright to pick up the pace a bit more. Especially if you’re thinking of me.”

We left the city of Danan, passed the somewhat paved road near the gate, and traversed an unnamed forest.
As the bricks and paved roads gradually disappeared, replaced by soil, moss, and trees, Eileen, who already hadn’t been walking smoothly, seemed to be having a bit more difficulty.
The thin moonlight shining down made the dreamily glowing tree branches, rough gravel, and sharp stone fragments further hinder our movement.
It was remarkable that she hadn’t fallen once while walking on this rough path.

As she carefully placed each step, she asked at one point, “It’s not that it’s too late to ask now, but… the celestial pattern you said you saw. Was it truly the same as the one I drew?”
“Yes.”
“…I see. I checked countless times. Please understand that it’s because it’s something I so desperately don’t want to believe.”

Breaking a tree branch blocking our path, I sank into thought.
It was understandable.
Depending on how you looked at it, it was something that could completely upend her very life and worldview.
It was natural she didn’t want to believe it.
Yet, I was grateful that she hadn’t denied reality and run away, but had instead stepped forward like this.

If things continued like this, she would ignore the Cardinal’s summons as per my plan.
There are traces of the calamity in Franz.
I didn’t expect anything to change immediately just by discovering it.
The current Eileen didn’t have that level of influence yet.
But I wasn’t impatient.
From Kang Joo-hyuk’s perspective, not even Volume 1 had ended yet.
For now, just this, the flutter of a butterfly’s wings, was enough.