episode_0025

All strong people have developed senses.

It was a natural theory.

As your level goes up, your perspective on the world broadens and your cognitive ability to gauge depth develops.

Most strong people tend to understand people better.

It’s similar to how in martial arts, strong people can recognize masters at a glance. In other words, you can see as much as you know.

The strong feel the internal energy that spreads softly around them, which the ignorant are unaware of.

The length of your stride, the posture of your hands while holding the stick, the calluses on your hands, and even the way your partner breathes.

The strong know how to understand their opponents by putting all of that together.

No matter how much this incompetent child pretends to return to Park and return to the truth, he cannot hide the awl in his pocket.

So I just hit my forehead and said.

“It just seems like my level of skill was lacking···.”

Damn, I should have hidden it more thoroughly.

Honestly, only one person was caught directly.

Adel, our team’s thief and archer.

The dark elf who has lived the longest life among our party members and thus knows the most.

To begin with, he was about 1 level higher than me and was the thief with the most developed senses.

Getting caught was almost fate.

After reuniting with the party members, I was slowly preparing to leave.

Sniff sniff.

Adele, who had been sniffing around for a moment, suddenly frowned. Then she spoke to me as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

“You bastard··· You learned black magic.”

“What?”

“?”

It was natural for the party members to react to those words.

“Just wait a moment, I’ll check.”

“What are you talking about? Don’t say such ominous things.”

Lily looks at me as she recites some kind of spell, and Camilla shakes her head as if she heard something unpleasant.

Of course, I was a bit skeptical at first.

If we get caught, isn’t it obvious that things will get worse?

And, it felt a bit of a shame to have the magic power I worked so hard to hide be revealed so vainly.

The argument continued like that for a while.

Party members including Adele question me, and I deny it for now.

Then the tail was caught.

“Huh?”

Lily cast a spell, and the black mana that had been hidden deep inside my body was revealed.

As if a baby was being born, a small, weak black mana crawled out from behind my back.

The magical powers flowing sinisterly behind his back looked evil to anyone who saw them.

Those who found evidence like that are even more crazy…

It has come to this point now.

“What is this? How did this happen?”

“Ha, I’m speechless.”

“······.”

The atmosphere changes to something incredibly sinister.

Lily looked embarrassed, Camilla’s angry face greeted me, and Adele was looking at me like I was a piece of garbage.

It’s so sad that I have to be treated like this just because I learned one black magic spell… The world is so sad.

And in the case of the Saint of the Sun, Yulis, who hates black magic the most…

“······.”

Well, I don’t know.

He’s looking at me with a restless expression.

The emotion contained in those sapphire-like eyes… sadness? Bitterness?

I guess it was a similar feeling, but at least it wasn’t the reaction I expected.

Well, these days she’s supposed to be predictable.

Anyway, I’m now in a situation where I’m about to get beaten up.

Although glares pierced me from all sides, I decided to think positively.

‘Yeah, it’s better that way.’

It’s going to be discovered someday anyway. They’ll definitely use it in the fight against the Balkans.

Rather than getting caught in the middle of a fight and confusing everyone, it’s better to get caught now.

I decided to admit it coolly, thinking it would be better to get hit first.

“Phew, yeah. Well… I learned something.”

“What? Are you out of your mind?!”

“You’re definitely crossing the line!!”

Then, the soprano’s high notes return.

I frowned at the voice that grated on my nerves.

How should I react?

Should I just say sorry and somehow get over it?

Or should we go the other way and convince them?

There are many words that come to mind.

It was an inevitable choice. After all, black magic is also a branch of magic. It is not something that God directly forbade, it is just that there is some prejudice.

Excuses like these come to mind one after another.

However, I just tried to choose the former method.

In these types of problems, emotions usually come before reason.

It’s not that black magic is dangerous that’s the problem, it’s that I don’t like the situation in which I learned black magic.

There is a strong perception that black magic is usually anti-human magic.

So, I decided to bow my head and take a look first…

“Everyone, calm down for a moment.”

Suddenly, the saint stepped forward.

With her golden hair fluttering, like Jesus saving a woman from being stoned.

It’s what separated them and me.

Suddenly, an intruder comes in and they start speaking one by one.

“Yulis, aren’t you angry!? You suddenly learned black magic? ”

“There are virtues and principles that one must uphold as a human being. That bastard has now broken them.”

“I usually just stand back and watch, but this time I have to say something. Why did you come all the way to the Four Heavenly Kings’ castle to learn black magic? Doesn’t that seem a bit strange?”

Annoyance, frustration, reasoning, etc.

All kinds of emotions and words are exchanged.

“I··· Yes, I’m fine. In the first place, we in the Sun God Church just avoid it··· We don’t specifically ban it.”

“Just because it’s not prohibited doesn’t mean you should use it, right?”

“Up until now, most of the wizards who have fallen to the criminal side have been warlocks. Among warlocks, there are only a handful who have not harmed humanity. Statistics prove this, so is there any reason to leave them alone?”

That’s not much different from the logic that says we should oppress all blacks because they have a higher crime rate.

Lily, you fucking racist bitch.

A steady debate ensues between Yuris and the party members.

I don’t know why she took my side, but I could tell she was trying to mediate the situation.

As the ear-scraping high-pitched sounds continue to pour out, stress slowly builds up inside.

It was during that time.

“···Ulysse, what’s wrong with you these days?”

Suddenly, Lily frowned and said.

Didn’t you know that you would suddenly become the target?

The saint begins to panic.

“Yes, yes?”

“That’s how it was from the beginning. In the past, you used to discuss things with us and even hated black magic. Why are you suddenly doing this? You’ve been taking this guy’s side for the past month.”

“That, that···.”

The saintess is momentarily speechless.

She looked back and forth between me and the party members.

After a moment, Camilla took a step forward and said.

“Come out, Yuris. I have to scold the guy who doesn’t know honor.”

“···Ha.”

I laughed in vain.

‘They’re being really noisy.’

I tried to just listen as much as possible, but every word he says is like a jewel, so I just can’t stay still.

“Excuse me. You’ve been talking about honor and duty since a while ago.”

For a moment, the party members’ eyes gather.

“Do you think this is some kind of devil catching game?”

“···What?”

“What?”

For a moment, the party members’ expressions frown.

Except for the saintess, everyone else was giving off a sinister vibe.

Regardless, I continued talking.

“Black magic? I learned it because I thought it would be the most helpful. I learned it because I thought it would be the most helpful when I’m going to be the one to beat the devil and the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“But why is it black magic? Of all things!”

“I have to use a good knife. Even if it cuts my hand.”

I just made the best choice.

You guys, I just picked the most efficient way to save this fucking world.

But, the only words I get back are these accusations.

No matter what, I couldn’t help but feel a little angry.

Maybe it was because I had accumulated some stress during the past month in Chunghoeseong, but the words came out surprisingly easily.

“You bastard···.”

Then Camilla adds a word.

“How much more do you plan on lowering the reputation of the warrior!”

“···Fame?”

Prestige.

To the people of this world, a warrior is like an idol. He appears in the most difficult times and brings peace and stability to everyone.

That is why, to them, a warrior was arbitrarily portrayed as a perfect being.

Without seeing reality at all.

“Prestige, honor. I gave up on that stuff last night.”

Even before becoming a warrior, I never even wanted to be one.

I spoke to her with a serious expression.

“I told you before. What we’re doing now is not child’s play. I guess Camilla is here to make a career out of the party?”

“That’s···.”

Camilla is momentarily speechless.

There must have been something that stung. It’s true that I participated for the sake of the people, for the sake of the greater good called humanity, but…

It’s not like I’ve never tried that kind of happiness circuit before.

Not just her, but everyone here.

“I’m different. I can do anything as long as I can get the Demon King’s head.”

That’s the black magic for that. That’s the choice for that.

It wasn’t an easy situation for me to think about things like fame, honor, and major.

So you guys, please wake up to reality.

You haven’t even properly experienced the demonic realm yet.

Our power will not be able to touch even a single toe of the Demon King.

If you’re going to get your feet wet, you might as well soak them in.

“Do you know what we’re not ready for?!”

That was when.

Among the party members who had been listening blankly, Lily suddenly steps forward in anger. Her face turned red, as if she was angry.

“If the situation is urgent, we are ready to sacrifice our lives···!”

···Ugh.

moment.

“Life─!!”

A loud noise came out.

It was a sound that came out of none other than my throat.

A loud noise in the low register echoes through the dark staircase.

Even I couldn’t help but be surprised because it was a scream that came out unconsciously, not consciously.

‘···Fuck.’

I didn’t plan on doing this…

But, it was inevitable.

Well, you’re risking your life. Why am I going through all this trouble?

“······.”

“······.”

Is it because I suddenly had a rash?

The air feels chilly, as if cold water has been poured over it.

They just stared at me blankly without saying anything.

Silence is so unresponsive.

I didn’t want this kind of atmosphere…

I had no choice but to sigh and continue speaking.

“······Don’t try to sacrifice your life so carelessly. At least, your life.”

It was a funny thing to say, even when I thought about it.

You preached all sorts of things in front of me, saying things like, “Be determined” and so on, but you actually told me to cherish my life.

It’s truly contradictory.

But there was nothing I could do.

The reason I first gave my all was because of them. No matter how much I was criticized, they were actually my driving force, so if they died, I was sure I would feel a great sense of emptiness.

Phew.

I sighed and tried to end this conversation.

“Then··· I’ll go up first. It’s dark outside, so everyone, be careful when you go up.”

I’m tired.

I felt a little bit empty.

What on earth are you doing···.

I was just having emotional fights with the kids I was trying to protect, getting cursed at, etc. Even though I had been reading this for half a year, I still couldn’t get used to it.

“Ha, why is he like that? He was talking about determination and all of a sudden he’s yelling!”

“··· Well, that’s kind of true.”

“Hey, everyone, calm down······.”

I could hear the guys chattering behind me.

Ignored it.

As always, for the sake of my mental health.

I’ll just do my thing.

One day, a little over a month after the Chunghoeseong conquest.

So our party became a little bit colder.