Chapter 126: Public Enemies

“…”

Next morning.

When Isaac slowly opened his eyes, he immediately curled up from the throbbing pain that assaulted his entire body.

It felt like a long time had passed, but him fighting Helric, the Helmont Ancestor, and escaping from the Malidean Wall happened just yesterday.

Well, actually, more than a day probably had passed.

Ever since he crossed over to this side, his sense of time had dulled.

It’s hard to tell the time here since the sky is dark all the time.

Regardless, he felt that quite a long time had passed since they successfully escaped the Malidean Wall.

In this place where sun didn’t seem to exist, it was darkness that filled up the space instead of the flow of time.

He got up and looked around the empty room.

The house had only two rooms.

Last night, Rianna and Sharen had debated who should sleep with Isaac, but he firmly stated he would sleep alone.

As a result, the sisters shared a room.

“Hmm…?”

At that moment, an unfamiliar and unique scent stung his nose.

He thought it was an unpleasant smell at first, but as he grew accustomed to it, ‘savory’ seemed to be a more fitting description for it.

When he stepped outside, there were Rianna and Sharen, already seated around the table where they had shared refreshments yesterday.

The two seemed to be waiting for Isaac, setting out breakfast.

“Isaac! You’re awake!”

Sharen greeted him cheerfully.

“Sit here. Rankelon brought some food.”

Rianna said as she calmly placed food on the table.

“…”

He had thought that the expression ‘peaceful daily life’ didn’t suit Helmont at all.

But seeing this, he admitted that his assessment was a little off.

Their breakfast was similar to yesterday’s.

Save for the soup, which stood out from the rest.

It was the source of the ‘unpleasant’ scent he smelled before.

“Does this have medicinal herbs in it too?”

“Seems like it. I guess they’re looking after us in their own way.”

“Everything they made is so bitter!”

Sharen jutted out her tongue, grumbling.

According to what he heard, today, peddlers would visit the village and the market would be opened.

To let the Northern soldiers be more at ease, they planned to explore the market, as well as learning more about the village atmosphere and the Transcendents.

[What’s the point of hating humans?]

“…”

Rankelon’s words from last night still echoed in Isaac’s ears.

He could tell that he was sincere, but it was still rather bewildering to hear.

Because it was almost too good to be true.

Sip.

As he drank his soup, he mulled over the discomfort that still lingered in a corner of his heart.

**   *   **

Along the main road where they had walked through yesterday, there were merchants, setting up their mats and unpacking their bundles.

The first impression Isaac had was that this market was different from what he had imagined.

Bustling footsteps, noisy haggling, things that typically came to mind when he heard the word market, were nowhere to be found.

On the contrary, the place was excessively quiet.

They were haggling, but in soft, secretive voices. All the merchants covered their faces, and they seemed to be wary of their surroundings.

So this is why Rankelon told us to cover our faces.

Isaac tapped the edge of the wide-brimmed hat he had received before coming to the market.

Apparently, it was called a ‘satgat¹‘, and he remembered seeing the Grandmaster’s schoolmate wearing one.

At that moment, he remembered the Grandmaster, and his heart sank heavily.

Is she alright, I wonder?

Having crossed swords with the schoolmate she had been searching for, he couldn’t imagine how her feelings were right now.

When his worry began to grow, and he was about to sink into his thoughts deeper, he felt Sharen gently tugging at his clothes.

“Isaac, look at that.”

He shifted his gaze to where Sharen was pointing.

“It says it’s a potion that erases memories.”

“…A potion that erases memories?”

What Sharen’s finger pointed to was a small, elongated flask.

Written on the front of the flask was ‘Potion to Erase Your Memories’.

The burly Transcendent sitting beside the flask nodded meaningfully at the three of them.

“Don’t we all have things we want to forget as we live our lives?”

“…”

For a moment, Isaac’s heart wavered.

But only for a moment.

Because he noticed the labels on the other flasks next to it.

-Potion to Send You to Paradise.

-Potion to Escape Life.

-Potion to Take at Life’s Final Moment.

-Potion to Make Even the Dying Open Their Eyes.

Every single one of them was filled with extravagant and suspicious labels.

At that moment, Rianna smelled the strong scent wafting through the gap in the stopper, and a frown appeared on her brows.

“Alcohol. Really strong at that.”

“You seem to have a strong nose, Miss? Were you from that kind of lineage?”

He seemed to have mistaken her for a Transcendent who had a strong sense of smell.

After that, the merchant didn’t engage with them further.

In fact, none of the merchants in this market held onto their customers or forced them to haggle.

They just silently stood where they were, waiting for passersby to approach on their own.

Is it because it’s the Village of the Sinners?

It clicked to Isaac why the market gave off the atmosphere of a black market rather than an ordinary one.

Getting information might not be as easy as I thought.

He quietly looked around.

Rianna seemed to have similar thoughts, as her expression under the satgat didn’t look good.

Though various items were displayed on other bundles around them, they were all unfamiliar or uninteresting things.

Or items that had suspicious and excessive labels.

-Necklace of the Dead.

-Silent Bell.

-Colorless Candy.

Sharen showed her interest towards the last one, but as soon as she saw its appearance, she shook her head.

“It looks completely tasteless! Probably tastes like rocks.”

Well, it isn’t like we could buy that in the first place.

Isaac glanced at Rianna while listening to Sharen’s grumbling.

“Aren’t you disappointed?”

“Kind of. I didn’t expect this kind of market at all.”

They didn’t come to the market to buy things.

But rather, they wanted to gather information about this world.

With this kind of atmosphere, there was no way for them to accomplish that.

“If there’s nothing more to see, let’s go to Pressing Stone! I told it to wait outside, so he’s probably still waiting!”

“…Alright, let’s do that.”

What is it, a warhorse now?

Leaving it at the entrance like that…

Isaac felt a bit sorry for Pressing Stone, who was probably still waiting at the village entrance.

When they went to the entrance, to their surprise, Pressing Stone was talking with a woman.

“Yes, that’s right! That’s why I guided them here. When the great ones seemed to be in trouble, I used my rock head to help them!”

“…”

The woman was silently listening to Pressing Stone’s story.

There was a satgat pressed down on her head, covering the top of her shoulder-length hair. She was quite visibly taller than Isaac.

In her hand was an odachi.

And the moment he saw her, Isaac’s eyes widened.

The Grandmaster’s…

Schoolmate…

Indeed. The woman who was talking with Pressing Stone was the one who was called ‘Number 2’.

Just as she noticed their presence and turned her head.

Whoosh!

Rianna already swung her sword at her.

She moved in like a flash.

Already regarded the other as an enemy, she showed no hesitation, displaying a swiftness that didn’t match the nature of her weapon, the greatsword.

But Number 2 wasn’t any less skilled than her.

A sword longer than a person’s height was drawn out of its scabbard in the blink of an eye.

She drew her sword at that speed, but she didn’t even stir the wind!

That alone already showed that she was as skilled as the Grandmaster.

However, she still couldn’t block Rianna’s strike perfectly.

Having received that strike, she was forced to plant her feet on the ground and was pushed back.

Screech—!

Dust rose, and smoke seeped from the woman’s heels.

“Haa—“

Having directly received Helmont’s monstrous strength, she lowered her sword slowly—perhaps because her hands were numb—and sighed.

“Tsk, seeing distinguished guests coming one after another for two days at once, it feels like I’ve used up all my life’s connections here.”

Her light tone was completely different from before.

It could be described as relaxed, but Isaac thought that ‘frivolous’ might be more accurate.

Staring at Rianna, who kept her guard up and her sword pointed, the woman let out another sigh.

“Does none of the members of your bloodline know patience and dialogue?”

“…”

The light tone became more bewildering the more he heard it.

When they had crossed swords directly, her atmosphere had been different.

At that time, she had kept her mouth shut, giving the impression of an assassin loyal to her master.

But now, she had the air of an eccentric middle-aged man living in the neighborhood.

Come to think of it, the Grandmaster was like this too.

The Grandmaster would turn into a solemn person whenever she was wielding a sword, but generally, she was a careless person.

Her tendency to get upset easily also contributed to that.

“This isn’t my working hour, so there’s no need to fight. Don’t wanna draw my sword for no reason, you see?”

As she spoke, she pointed at Isaac, who was standing at a distance.

“You there, Number 10’s disciple. Good, good, I wanted to talk with you at least once.”

Her voice was filled with interest rather than hostility.

Recalling her image from when they had crossed swords last time—when she had swallowed whatever it was that she wanted to say to him—Isaac walked forward.

“I wanted to meet you too. After all, you’re my master’s schoolmate.”

“Isaac?”

Rianna turned around worriedly, but Isaac shook his head.

“It’s alright. If she wanted to, she would have attacked us already.”

She was skilled enough to be compared to the Grandmaster.

While Rianna might be able to hold out against her, no one could guarantee her victory.

The woman merely shrugged her shoulders, not denying his claim.

That gesture showed her confidence in her abilities.

After entrusting his two tachi to Sharen, Isaac carefully offered a handshake.

“I’m Isaac Logan.”

“…Such courage. Approaching someone holding a sword so lightly like this.”

Despite saying this, she still took Isaac’s hand.

“I don’t have another name, but if you find it inconvenient, just call me Nameless.”

“…”

Hearing those words, a thought crossed Isaac’s mind.

This was probably the reason why the Grandmaster didn’t reveal her name until her death; she just didn’t have one.

“If my master were here, I wouldn’t be able to let you off, but coincidentally, I’m alone today.”

Nameless then glanced at the village, letting out a bitter smile.

“Anyway, you’ve fled to quite a peculiar place.”

“Do you mean Benheim Village?”

“Yes. Well, there’s quite a bit I’d like to tell you, but for now, I’ll tell you this.”

Nameless scratched her cheek and added in a soft voice.

“The people in this village are harmful to both worlds.”

“Harmful?”

“Yes. They’re creatures whom you should face with swords in hands.”

Whether you’re Transcendents or humans.