episode_0118

118. A Great Tree.

“……May I ask how old you are?”

“Hmm? Can’t you tell by looking?”

“Judging by appearance, I’d say you’ve barely passed your twenties, but that can’t be true.”

“Why?”

Johan barely managed to raise his trembling hand.

“Inner strength, and experience. You can’t reach this level at that age.”

“Hehe, is that so? Then how old do I look?”

Just as Johan was about to answer, a heavy voice came from afar.

“Old man. Stop teasing him. If you’re old, you should act your age. Don’t you think?”

It was a voice from his memory.

‘Black King?’

Johan’s question was asked by the young man instead.

“Oh, I felt a sticky gaze from earlier, so it was you? You dark rascal?”

“Feigning ignorance. Did you really not know? That I was watching?”

“No. Actually, I knew.”

The Black King chuckled and approached them with Black Wolf.

He frowned, looking around the training grounds.

“You fought quite spectacularly. The commotion among the disciples is that a fire broke out in the blasting agent warehouse.”

“How would I know? Who knew that sorcerer would cause such an explosion? And, you’re no slouch when it comes to fighting spectacularly, are you?”

“Heh, I have nothing to say.”

At that moment, Johan, who had been listening quietly, interjected.

“Lord. So how old is this senior?”

“Ah, right. I should tell you.”

Johan, still lying down, wriggled his eyes and looked at the Black King. He was playfully raising the corners of his mouth.

“Old man, wasn’t it last year you passed one hundred?”

“It was the year before last. You rascal.”

“So that’s what he says. Cult Leader.”

Johan’s mind went blank for a moment. He felt a throbbing headache and opened his mouth.

“O-One hundred? So you’re saying he’s 102 years old?”

The young man asked innocently.

“Why? Doesn’t he look about that age?”

“Now that I see it, you’re not a senior, but an old geezer… Ugh!”

Suddenly, a burning pain was felt on his forehead. The young man, no, the old geezer’s flick struck him between the eyebrows.

“You little brat, no respect……”

Johan rubbed his forehead with an arm that didn’t move well and asked.

“No, how did you do it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Th-That face. You look too young.”

“Hmm? Don’t you know about reverse aging (返老還童)?”

Reverse aging? Johan looked puzzled.

“What is that?”

The old geezer was briefly at a loss for words at Johan’s question. Then he realized. Ah, this guy is from another world.

“You don’t need to know. It’s not important. It’s just something that makes your skin look a little better.”

The Black King, who had been listening quietly, said.

“That’s funny, old man. You’re the only martial artist who would describe reverse aging like that.”

The Black King said that and clapped his hands. Then, from afar, three or four figures arrived at the Black King.

The Black King pointed at Johan and gestured, and they quickly surrounded Johan.

“Let him rest. Treat him with care as he is a guest.”

Don’t they usually say “serve him” here? Johan felt a minor question and was dragged away by them.

Thanks to that, all that remained in this place were the Black King, Black Wolf, the old geezer, and the two otherworlders.

The Black King pointed to the fan that the old geezer was holding with his finger.

“To take out the Blood Fox Fan (血狐扇), you’re not the same as you used to be, old man.”

A divine artifact passed down through the Sama family. Blood Fox Fan (血狐扇).

Some may laugh and say, “A divine artifact for just a fan?” but conversely, it is a weapon that has secured the position of a divine artifact with ‘just’ a fan.

A fan that stands tall in the position of a divine artifact, surpassing the swords, knives, whips, and spears of famous generals. That was the Blood Fox Fan.

The old monster of the martial world has lived twice as long as the Black King and Black Wolf have roamed the martial world.

For such a monster to take out a divine artifact against that young whippersnapper, it’s something for gossips to laugh about.

But even so, the old geezer was confident. He smiled as if he was enjoying it.

“No, no. It’s not that I’m not the same as I used to be.”

“What?”

“I’m always in the same place. No matter how old and large a great tree is, it can’t move.”

His eyes were shimmering with a strange desire. It was different from the desire for martial arts that ordinary martial artists have.

“Things that only looked like sprouts have become trees before I knew it. And they’ve grown quite a bit. Enough to strike at my leaves.”

Power, the ideal he desires is not limited to martial arts.

Whether it’s martial arts, weapons, or even evil sorcery!

The law of the jungle (弱肉強食).

What does it matter if it’s like this or like that?

If you can only get stronger, what does it matter?

The old geezer, no, Sama Han, stroked the crimson fan.

“I’ve finally found it. It took so long.”

“……Old man. Could it be.”

Sama Han smiled sadly. However, a clear joy was present on one side of the smile.

“It’s time to step aside. An old and overgrown tree only steals the nutrients.”

“……”

The Black King trembled. What potential did this man witness from the Cult Leader?

Sama Han turned his back on the Black King and took a step. As he took his first step, he murmured quietly.

“Call me when the Cult Leader wakes up. It would be better to give it to him directly.”

Sama Han continued to walk.

Then, at some point, the setting sun overlapped with his body. Sama Han’s body line blazed with vermillion light.

And right after Sama Han and the sun passed each other, he had disappeared.

***

“Ugh……”

Johan let out a groan like a zombie and opened his eyes. Perhaps it was because he had fought a human stronger than himself for the first time in a long time, his whole body ached.

He was thirsty.

He reflexively raised his right arm and rummaged above his head. There’s usually a glass of water around here.

Something touched. Johan picked it up without much thought. And brought it to his eyes.

“A fan……?”

“Yes. It is a fan.”

“Heok!”

Johan flinched at the voice he heard from the side.

“Old geezer? What brings you here? And what is this?”

What he was talking about was obvious. Even so, Sama Han answered with a nonchalant attitude.

“Didn’t I say? It is a fan.”

“……Do you think I’m asking because I don’t know that?”

Johan looked at him with contempt. Sama Han cleared his throat slightly.

“Ahem, ahem. Right. Let’s stop joking around. You can think of it as a kind of gift.”

“A gift, you say?”

This? Johan unfurled the fan with a flutter. A crimson fox was drawn on the pure white paper.

It looked as if it would break through the painting and come out into the world at any moment. Johan stared at it for a while, then shook his wrist up and down.

A gentle breeze carefully tickled his hair.

“It’s cool. I’ll use it well when it gets hot later.”

“……Is that all?”

Johan tilted his head at Sama Han’s question.

“……? What else do I need?”

Ah, this bastard was from another world. Sama Han opened his mouth, clutching his forehead.

“You idiot. Do you even know how great that thing is?”

Johan answered fluently, as if a dam had burst.

“Isn’t it a fan that creates a storm with just one swing, and has better strength than most swords?”

I saw you using it during the sparring match, it would be stranger if I didn’t know.

Sama Han’s expression became awkward.

“You know that and that’s your reaction?”

“Didn’t you already give it to me?”

“Did I?”

“I don’t know about before receiving it, but now that I’ve already received it, what do I have to be sorry about?”

“……”

Sama Han grabbed his chin and fell into contemplation.

I think I was wrong. I should look for another guy now……

Suddenly, the appearance of the fan disappeared from Sama Han’s sight. Sama Han opened his mouth slightly and asked.

“What is that……?”

“It’s an inventory. Haven’t you seen it?”

Inventory! A strange magic bag used by otherworlders!

The fact that he put the Blood Fox Fan in that mysterious bag meant that no matter what Sama Han did, he couldn’t take it out.

Grinding, Sama Han gritted his teeth. But Johan, whether he did or not, got up nonchalantly and stretched.

“Ugh……! Anyway, old geezer. I will make good use of what you gave me. You made a wise decision.”

“……Let it go.”

“Pardon?”

Whoosh, Sama Han jumped up and grabbed Johan by the collar.

He shouted with his face red.

“Give it back! My fan!”

“Keuheok!”

He shook his hands from side to side. In response, Johan’s head nodded weakly.

“Sa-Save me……!”

“You baaaaastard!!!”

Sama Han’s commotion could only be stopped after the disciples who were waiting outside rushed in.

Thanks to that, Johan, who had barely gotten out of bed, fainted again. It was a minor matter.

***

It had already been a week since he was almost strangled to death by the old geezer.

Fortunately, the old geezer was more forgiving than he thought. When Johan woke up, he didn’t say anything about the fan. Instead……

“Step on the ground with more force! The beginning of an attack is usually the lower body!”

“Heuuup!”

Johan swung the fan while stepping heavily on the ground.

At that moment, the fox drawn on the fan glowed eerily.

Whooooosh-!

The small wind that started from the fan instantly turned into a huge storm and smashed the scarecrows in front of him.

Paga ga ga gak-!

It was an excellent fan attack (扇功). But it’s not over yet. Johan stepped forward with a sliding footwork.

He saw the fragments of the scarecrows scattering in his vision. The moment a flash of light shone from Johan’s waist, they were split into even smaller pieces.