episode_0227

“Meet the lord!”

The disciples who were training, the elders who were like pillars leading the Jangseong faction, and lastly, even Yeolyeong.

They were all standing in front of the large main gate of Jangseongga, holding hands and bowing their heads.

To welcome just one person.

I peeked my head out and saw a woman wearing tattered, worn-out clothes coming in.

‘Is that person…the inspector general?’

He certainly seemed like an extraordinary person.

Long, jet-black hair that flows down like silk.

Softly shining lavender eyes.

Although the colors weren’t as flashy as the teacher’s, it had an atmosphere that was impossible to take my eyes off of.

Above all, her appearance strongly attracted attention.

‘…I thought you were the most beautiful person in the world.’

I glanced at Geom-hu’s face once more.

A beauty that doesn’t seem to be pushed around at all even when placed next to the teacher.

Long eyelashes that give off a cold aura and a cold, indifferent appearance that makes you feel cold just by looking at them.

If the Master had a seductive appearance that could be called destructive.

Geom-hu had a cold and ruthless beauty that seemed to shine even when the whole world turned its back on her.

Maybe I was looking at it too intently.

The eyes of the swordsman who was walking this way glanced in my direction.

Shudder-

Just meeting eyes made me feel a chill that made my heart freeze.

But that was only for a moment, as Geom-hu stepped into the gate of Jangseong-ga with a blank expression.

“Master!”

Ye-ryeong, who was next to me, jumped out of her seat and ran towards Geom-hu.

“It’s a courtesy.”

“You must have had a hard time practicing closed doors..! Did you have any progress?”

“I don’t think there has ever been a loneliness as great as not seeing my disciples.”

“Master..!”

Cheon Ye-ryeong with a moved expression.

I too was quite surprised.

He looks so cold that I thought he had a blunt personality, but he speaks surprisingly affectionately.

“Congratulations on your return, Mr. Geumhu.”

“You must be having a hard time taking care of the elders.”

Geom-hu, who receives numerous greetings with a shallow smile.

After greeting everyone, she looked back at me.

“There’s a kid I haven’t seen before. Is he a new student?”

The elder with the long beard looked at me once, then answered the inspector with a kind smile on his face.

“No. He is a new friend that Cadet Ye-ryeong made. The two of them often spar in Jangseong.”

“It’s Ye-ryeong.”

As Geom-hu approached me, raising one eyebrow as if she was interested, I naturally looked up at her because she was much taller than me.

“Nice to meet you. Are you Yeryeong’s close friend?”

She spoke with a shallow smile.

The refined aura that was gently emanating from her made me feel on my skin how much of a monster she was.

I swallowed hard and looked at her.

“That’s right.”

“I see. But why are you covering your face so stuffily?”

Geomhu slowly raises his hand over my hat.

Instinctively, I quickly took two steps back from her.

Then, he pulled his hat down again and spoke to Geom-hu, who was looking at him with a puzzled look.

“Uh..I can’t show my face..I’m sorry..”

“I wonder if there are any scars.”

“Similar..”

After a moment of regretful expression, Geom-hu nodded once and turned away from me again.

“Yes. I would appreciate it if you could continue to be friends with Yeryeong in the future.”

“Ah..no, I’m happy because I’m friends with Yeryeong too.”

“What a kind child.”

She stroked my hat once and then went inside Jangseongga.

I looked at her back for a moment, with a refined aura flowing out of it.

“How is it? Isn’t our teacher amazing?”

Ye-ryeong, who had come up next to me without me noticing, asked with a proud face.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her cute, rabbit-like face.

“Yeah. I can feel it just by looking at him. How strong he is.”

“Then! How great is our Master? Even the famous ‘Geomseong’ was once his disciple?”

“….Black?”

thud-

For a moment, I felt my heart beat faster.

When I put my hand on my heart out of curiosity, I felt that my heart was beating faster than before.

‘What did I eat wrong..?’

Black.

This is probably the first time you’ve heard of that nickname.

But for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the name was familiar.

“Who is Geomseong..?”

“What? You, Geumseongdo…Ah. You said you had an accident. Sorry.”

Ye-ryeong, who had been looking at me with sad eyes, soon smiled and patted my shoulder.

“Just know that our teacher is the best!”

“Hmm..it definitely looks like that..”

I have never seen anyone of that caliber before.

…but why on earth is that?

I didn’t want to admit to myself that Geom-hu was the strongest.

As if there was someone who had taken over that place deeply and rooted in it.

But I couldn’t figure out what was causing this feeling, so I kept my uneasy feeling inside and looked up at the sky.

“…The weather is nice.”

The sky is dazzling and illuminates everyone.

The sun was terribly bright.

*

The Grand Vizier located in the Empire.

A part of the spacious shrine.

Secret meetings were taking place in the saint’s prayer room, which the archbishop had forbidden entry to.

“You still can’t find it?”

Iris, the pure white saint, speaks with her eyes squinted.

Like her, Athena was thinking about something with her face crumpled.

“….Not yet.”

“It’s already been three weeks since I heard the oracle that Hera is alive. But how can it be that I haven’t gotten anything? Someone as great as Athena?”

“It seems like it’s hidden properly. I guess I’ll have to search the continent a little more thoroughly.”

“Sigh..”

Iris let out a deep sigh.

Iris’ condition didn’t look good, as she bit her lips with an anxious expression.

It was a crazy, desperate situation. Athena was the same.

“I can’t do that. I have to let other people know that Hera is alive..”

Finally, unable to watch any longer, Iris spoke with a stern look in her eyes.

“Iris. You promised to keep my secret.”

“But you don’t even have a clue right now..! No matter how much you want to meet her first, if you can’t find her, isn’t it all useless?”

“…..”

“If you get help from others, you can expand the search area several times.”

“If I include other kids, I won’t be able to keep my promise to you?”

“Ugh..”

Iris’s eyes began to tremble.

The promise shared between Athena and Iris.

Instead of keeping Hera’s life a secret from the others, Athena promised Iris that she would later send Hera on a trip alone.

And I swore that during that period, no matter what I did, I would never touch it.

Couldn’t she easily give up that dreamlike time? Iris answered Athena, squeezing her eyes shut.

“…I’ll just watch for one more week. If I don’t get any clues by then, I’ll let others know. ”

“Yeah. I agree. First of all, the most important thing is to find Hera, who ran away so shamefully.”

Athena let out a short sigh and slowly closed her eyes.

‘This woman is like a she-cat.’

Where on earth are you hiding?

He was unpacking his articles and examining them one by one.

In detail. Everywhere.

So I searched everywhere I could find her, but I couldn’t find even a single hair.

A situation where you can’t even be sure if you’re alive.

But Athena was convinced that Hera was alive.

And someday, for sure.

I swore to myself that I would find her.

‘Just wait and see, Hera. The day I catch you in my hands, I’ll make you regret running away to the core.’

Judging from the goddess’ oracle that Hera is alive and the disappearance of her body, Hera must be alive somewhere in her original body.

Thank goodness the goddess gave us a miracle.

But there was no way to know where it was hidden.

If I could just ask the goddess directly…

‘…for a moment.’

..why did I only think of this now?

Athena’s mind cleared at the simple method that even a fool could think of.

Athena opened her eyes wide and looked at Iris.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Iris. Didn’t you say you had a conversation with the goddess?”

“..There was just one. Why is that..?”

One corner of Athena’s mouth went up at Iris’ positive answer.

Athena’s heart began to race at the thought that she might finally find a clue.

“Let me meet the goddess.”

“…Huh?”

“The goddess might have a clue. So I should meet her sometime.”

As if Athena had a point, Iris thought seriously for a moment and then shook her head with a calm expression.

“To meet the Goddess, you need to have the power to connect with her. Athena doesn’t have that at all.”

The cold, unavoidable truth.

But Athena’s solar eyes still shone undimmed.

“Really? Then can you tell me instead?”

“Yes..? If it’s just words then what..”

“Then tell him this clearly.”

Athena looked at Iris with serious eyes that were free of even an inch of lies.

“If you don’t meet me now, I’ll burn half of the empire right now.”

No matter how good he became, it was only thanks to Hera’s influence.

That means.

Now that she had left her, Athena had no need to restrain herself from anything.

Even if it goes back to the dark side.