episode_0119

– Vendah!

Yerina declared forcefully.

With a clean, simple, and beautiful swing flying towards her.

The image suddenly cut off.

At the same time, the connection to the Guju Blood Pact that was linked to her was also detected as destroyed.

“…Connection. Broken, severed.”

“Really unbelievable powerlessness…”

She found and extracted the core of Jinbeop, rendering it powerless.

With the core destroyed, Jinbeop’s form crumbled, unable to function anymore.

Usually, the core is concealed to prevent Jinbeop from interfering.

But since Yerina hardly senses magic, she didn’t bother hiding the core, thinking she would never see it.

Never did she imagine that Yerina would be exposed and destroy the core.

“Is that the power of Beast Mode?”

Until now, Yerina had only seen Beast Mode, where she was engulfed in rage, scattering magic and power in all directions.

But it seems that focusing on a single goal allows her to gain a sight that is normally unseen.

Although she may temporarily lose her sight due to the recoil, her formidable power remains unchanged.

“If she masters the Gwanghalsim technique, she’ll become even stronger, right?”

The Gwanghalsim technique transmitted to Yerina through Alicia.

By mastering it, she can control Beast Mode more easily rather than making it disappear.

In other words, Yerina will become stronger from this point on…

Suddenly, a chill runs down her spine.

She wonders if it was a mistake to pass on this knowledge.

“It was something that had to be done someday.”

But she has no regrets.

For Alicia’s safe return and to suppress Yerina’s madness, this was the only way.

Although there might be misunderstandings due to getting caught by some evil sorcerer and exploited in the process…

Alicia will explain it well.

If not, she’ll end up trapped in the Ice Cave.

From now on, she must trust Alicia and leave it to her.

“I won’t be able to see Alicia for a while.”

“…Alright.”

She doesn’t want to break the trust she just regained with her sister.

Perhaps this is the end of her connection with Alicia.

Surely, she won’t go crying and sitting in despair if she gets chased out of the Leaf City later, right?

Surely not.

“Let’s clear out the Black Star Dungeon nearby and head back. The atmosphere here is suffocating.”

“…Yeah. I’m hungry.”

“Blood laundry?”

“…Yeah.”

She stayed in the north for quite a while.

If she stays longer, she might get caught on Yerina’s radar, so she needs to hurry down.

With a knife wound in her neck, she hugged her unconscious sister and walked down the mountain.

“It’s about time to change the sword.”

As she walked around the market, she noticed the well-crafted swords on display.

Her sword may not be praised with empty words, but it’s definitely sturdy.

However, due to frequent sharpening, the blade has become thin.

It’s about time to sharpen the sword.

Why hesitate when she can just buy a new one?

It’s because of the various sword techniques she has mastered.

The sword she currently has is an odd size, not a two-handed or one-handed sword, but a unique sword that can be wielded by Dakiaryu, Meridaryu, and Frostryu without any difficulty.

So, to combine all three sword techniques into one sword, she needs to have it custom-made.

But that takes too much time.

As someone who needs to move between regions quickly, staying in one place for too long is a huge loss.

However, buying any random sword and equipping three swords for each technique is also not ideal.

It would be quite cumbersome.

“It’s a headache.”

Neither option appeals to her.

Still, this old sword is holding up well, so should I push it a little further?

I stroked the sword disguised as an umbrella and headed to the market.

***

Clang, clang!

The noise echoed in the spacious workshop.

Confident hands handling tools.

Eyes full of certainty.

Without hesitation, the girl with rough reddish skin, Tei, put on her goggles.

“Phew! Finished!”

Clang!

The gem attached to the tongs was placed in a cold water tank.

As the surface cooled, the true color and light of the gem burst out through the water.

Tei, who watched proudly for a moment, lifted the gem again, carefully wiped off the moisture, wrapped it in fine cloth, and placed it in a wooden box.

And so, the wooden boxes piled up in one corner of the workshop were already the tenth.

While other top craftsmen painstakingly processed one or two top-quality gems a year, Tei was processing gems of unparalleled quality at an incredible speed, as if they were being mass-produced in a factory.

“It almost feels like handling lower-grade gems is no different from everyday life?”

Carving gems all day, getting tired, falling asleep, waking up, and processing again… Like a machine.

Recently, this routine had been continuing.

Of course, it wasn’t boring.

Every time a mistake was made, money exchanged hands in the millions of gold, so it was always thrilling.

But apart from that.

Tei felt like she was in a bit of a slump lately.

When she first started handling top-quality gems, her skills improved day by day.

Especially after processing the gem brought by Yujin, rumors spread that her skills had evolved to another level.

But that was as far as her skill improvement went.

Since then, it had been up and down until today.

Receiving new gems every day and processing them, but the difficulty seemed to remain the same, so her skills didn’t improve much.

|I need black gems…|

She had to process black gems.

The desire for it was getting stronger day by day, uncontrollably.

-Tei, there’s a request for a meeting. In the VIP waiting room…

“The investor?!”

-Yes. That’s right.

“Yesss! Please tell them to wait a little longer!”

Cheering, Tei threw all the tools she was holding.

The investor had arrived!

Upon hearing those words, fatigue seemed to vanish, and her body felt lighter.

Tei was about to fly into the elevator, but then hesitated.

“Oh. Am I too dirty…?”

She turned back, wiped off the dirt on her face, and tidied up her messy hair.

Of course, there was no way her hair, which hadn’t been combed for over a week, would look any better just by tidying it up, so she had to tie it up properly.

“Should I dress up a bit?”

After washing up and tidying her hair, she noticed her work clothes.

Thinking that it wouldn’t be polite to go in such dirty clothes, she tried to see if there were any other clothes, but there were only pajamas and work clothes in the workshop where she slept most of the time.

In the end, Tei had no choice but to change into a new set of work clothes with a pout.

Looking into the mirror constantly made her uncomfortable – her untrimmed nails, messy eyebrows, unruly bangs, everything was bothering her, so Tei had to quickly look away from the mirror.

There was no time for all of that.

She had already kept the investor waiting for a long time…

“Ugh, my eyes feel heavy all of a sudden.”

Suddenly feeling dizzy, Tei’s body swayed.

After long hours of work, this often happened.

Tei, as if nothing had happened, put a fatigue reliever in her mouth and got on the elevator.

“Exciting!”

“Excited? Can I see the black magic stone?”

“Yeah! Probably!”

Excitement bubbled up within her.

As the elevator descended with a humming sound,

Tei couldn’t keep her feet still for a moment and rolled around with a clattering sound.

And finally, with a ding, the elevator stopped.

As the door opened, Tei couldn’t hold back her excitement and ran straight towards it.

“Investor! Here I come!”

“Where… in dirty clothes.”

“It’s not dirty! I washed up and changed into clean clothes! So move aside! Ugh! Just because I’m small doesn’t mean I lack strength!”

“Where… sniff sniff… really.”

But waiting for Tei at the door was the vampire girl, Mijung.

Tei struggled with Mijung for a while before finally managing to break free.

Out of breath from exerting unexpected strength, Tei’s gaze fell upon the sofa.

And the moment she spotted Eugene, Tei couldn’t contain her laughter and ran towards him.

“Investor! I missed you!”

“You… are like a dog.”

“What did you say?!”

If Tei were a dog-human hybrid, she would have been wagging her tail non-stop by now.

Watching Tei embrace Eugene with a happy expression, Mijung thought to herself.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“Really? Me?”

“Yeah. Before, when you hugged me, it felt light because our bodies were similar in size. But now, when you hug me, it’s like being stabbed in the chest and struggling to breathe, it’s on a different level.”

“Hehehe!”

Tei laughed happily at Eugene’s honest observation.

For a dwarf whose growth had been stagnant, growing meant only one thing.

It meant that her skills and achievements had significantly improved in the task she was entrusted with.

So, for a dwarf, growing meant a compliment on her increased skills and accomplishments.

There was nothing as precious as the praise from the person who had rescued her from hell and made her the best artisan.

The person who had recognized her early on and believed in her.

There was nothing as valuable as their praise.

“Now that you’ve grown more, how about backing off a bit?”

“Why? Is it embarrassing?”

“Why would it be embarrassing? There’s no one watching.”

“I… I’m not a person. A statement?”

“It’s not real. It’s just a little vampire kid.”

“You’re getting angry.”

“What will you do if I get angry? This is my building. Do you want to be kicked out?”

“Hey hey. Stop fighting.”

Looking down at Tei, who was hugging her waist even tighter without hesitation, Eugene felt a headache coming on.

In the past, this level of physical contact didn’t matter at all.

The age gap was so obvious that they looked like a young niece and uncle to everyone.

But after such rapid growth, behaving the same as before was quite awkward.

It would have been better if she had grown into a full adult form.

Looking ambiguous and awkward in many ways, showing this behavior outside would immediately raise eyebrows.

“Don’t worry. I’m aware of it too, so I’ll be more considerate outside.”

“Yeah. Thanks. And this is the magic stone I brought today.”

“Where, where, let me see!”

After Eugene took out the pouch from her bag, her arms that were wrapped around her waist loosened.

The mischievous and playful dwarf girl disappeared without a trace.

What remained by Eugene’s side was a serious and enthusiastic artisan.

Inside the box were various colored gemstones.

Taking a moment to examine each one with joy, Tei’s face gradually began to show signs of unease.

“Are these all top-quality gemstones?”

“Yes. If they’re not top-quality, I wouldn’t bring them to you.”

“What about the black magic stone? Do you have any black magic stones?”

“No. I don’t have that.”

“Why? Why are you not bringing the black mana stone lately? Are you handing it over to another artisan instead of me? Because I failed twice and couldn’t succeed······?”

“Tei.”

Tei’s pupils shook.

His hands trembled, his breath quickened.

He couldn’t speak calmly.

It was as if he was captivated by something.

‘I need the black mana stone! I need the black mana stone! I need the black mana stone!!!’

Tei had no room to think about anything else right now.

He had to get the black mana stone.

That was the only thought in his mind.

He had to somehow, by any means necessary, get the black mana stone into his hands. Extracting a large amount of magic from the black mana stone to dare to touch the divine body.

“Please bring me the black mana stone! To improve my skills······ No, no. It’s okay now! I just need the black mana stone! If I have that, nothing else matters, so please give me the black mana stone quickly! I just need to hold it once, so hurry! Quickly!!!”

“You······.”

Tei’s words became faster.

Yujin was momentarily taken aback by this.

Tei’s eyes filled with blood, his trembling body, and Yujin carefully observing his unusual speech made the situation more serious.

“Who are you?”

“Me?”

This wasn’t Tei.

Yujin came to that conclusion.