Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 118

Weapon-Devouring Bastard – Episode 118

I opened my eyes to find it was dawn.

I saw the ceiling of the residential tree in Mirenae Village.

Instantly, a wave of nausea surged, and I covered my mouth.

“Ugh!”

“Oh, oh! Here, here! Do it here!”

I plunged my face into a basin that someone, I didn’t even know who, had handed me.

Splash!

A handful of bright red blood poured out.

I felt much better after coughing up blood once.

Then, I blinked to shake off the hazy feeling.

“First, drink this.”

It was the same situation as when I fainted after wrestling with 100 goblins.

The old elf handed me a drink.

I nodded lightly and poured the drink into my mouth in one go.

Meanwhile, I could hear voices beside me.

“Amazing. He’s already awake, not even a few hours after losing consciousness. I thought it would take at least a few days…”

“How are you feeling? Is your mind back?”

Thanks to the drink, I barely regained my senses and looked around.

It was none other than Ryeo who had handed me the basin.

Ryeo subtly moved the basin with the blood I had vomited to the side and asked again.

“Is there anything uncomfortable?”

“Yes, I’m fine. It seems like some of my organs are twisted and I have some internal injuries, but I think I’ll recover soon.”

Ryeo and the elf looked at each other simultaneously and whispered.

‘Hey, quack. Is he really okay?’

‘I don’t know, Village Chief. And quack? Are you picking a fight?’

Ryeo cleared her throat and opened her mouth again.

“Why are you awake already? You should have slept more.”

“What can I do when my eyes opened? By the way, I definitely had severe internal injuries…”

As I answered, I habitually observed my body and noticed something strange.

A foreign energy, not originally mine, had permeated my body.

“…Did you perhaps feed me something?”

The answer came from the elf.

“The Yin-Yang Grass, a divine herb that the Elder raised, along with healing water and spirit herb…”

The elf rattled off the names of the medicinal ingredients.

My mouth dropped open.

The Yin-Yang Grass alone was a supreme elixir said to contain immense magical power.

On top of that, several herbs that only elves could cultivate were added.

‘So that’s why the amount of magic power is like this…’

Not only were my internal injuries healed, but my magic power had also noticeably increased.

Even so, it wasn’t as much as when I consumed the Amethyst Honey, but it was still enormous.

“I feel like I’ve received an undeserved gift.”

“You don’t know the importance of what you’ve done. Just that much elixir? I’d give you dozens if I could.”

Ryeo said confidently, and the elf grumbled from behind.

“I’m the one who made it, so why is the Village Chief taking credit?”

“Ahem!”

I watched them for a moment and asked.

“What happened after I fainted?”

The Black Lotus was definitely holed up with the Great Demon.

Taking advantage of the weakened Great Demon, Elder Seop’s energies began to seal it.

Clearly, the Elder had rushed in, prepared for annihilation, but was suddenly bounced out of the seal.

‘Could it be those two goblins…’

I recalled the two energies I had seen with my magic eyes just before I fainted.

They were two sturdy goblins in the form of mist and earth.

Perhaps they were the identities of the remaining two of the Three Gods from mythology.

Ryeo gently pressed my shoulder and shook her head.

“You may have many questions and stories to hear, but rest for now. Recover your body first and listen to the Elder directly tomorrow. You need to absorb the medicinal energy in your body, don’t you?”

At Ryeo’s words, I gathered the things the elf had brought and stood up.

Ryeo followed suit, rising from her seat and glancing at me.

“Thank you. We owe you too much.”

I couldn’t see her expression, but her voice seemed to be mixed with tears.

As she left the room, I saw the sunrise through the window.

A new morning was dawning.

* * *

Ryeo gazed at the residential tree where Lee Cheol was sleeping for a moment, then turned her head towards the elf.

“You caught it?”

“What are you talking about, Village Chief?”

“The scent.”

“…….”

At Ryeo’s words, the elf closed his mouth, and Ryeo turned her gaze back towards the direction where Lee Cheol was.

The elf was silent for a moment, then forced his mouth open and slowly began to speak.

“The internal injuries were severe. Not to the point of death, but not to the point of recovering in a few hours either. Especially when he started to recover, the scent became stronger.”

“It’s not because of the elixir?”

“The elixir helped, too. But it wasn’t an injury that could be healed with just the elixir, yet he recovered. I’ve learned medicine, but I don’t know much about the human body. Is the Soongmoo Lee family’s body always like that?”

“Hmm…”

That couldn’t be.

The Soongmoo Lee family’s body is great, but it doesn’t have that kind of ability.

“It was more like regeneration than recovery.”

At the elf’s words, Ryeo smiled and said.

“There’s nothing as foolish as trying to know what we can’t know.”

“…That’s true.”

“Go and reorganize the village. The old folks have to work hard for the young ones to follow.”

“Oh my… Hehe.”

Ryeo and the elf slowly moved away.

* * *

Two days passed after everything was over.

Seop stood in the crater where the Great Demon had been sealed.

The lava that had been flowing on the floor had already disappeared.

The heat that had filled Jeju Island would also weaken even further.

Seop slowly moved and stroked the lump of iron that had been his anvil.

The anvil he had created was shattered by the aftermath of the battle, and the failures were corroded by demonic energy and crumbling away.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps was heard in the distance.

Seop slowly turned his head and looked at the human who had come to the crater.

“You’ve come.”

Lee Cheol.

The one who finally broke the long cycle.

Seop’s gaze first went to the color of his hair and eyes, and then to the Black Night at his waist.

“…….”

Seop silently stared at me.

I didn’t avoid his gaze and simply met his eyes.

The feeling of seeing a transcendent being that I had felt from the first time I saw him had already disappeared.

Rather, he seemed weaker and more aged than Ryeo.

“Thanks to you, everything has been resolved.”

“Is the Great Demon sealed?”

“Yes, it has been greatly damaged and silenced, so there will be no danger in the future. All the demon species in the mountains have been cleared up, so there shouldn’t be any problems. More than that, you…”

“The villagers helped me, so I’ve completely recovered now.”

“…That’s a relief.”

Silence fell again for a moment.

Seop, who had been blankly looking up at the sky above the crater, opened his mouth.

“I hate humans.”

“Is that so.”

“Humans lie easily, break promises, and disrupt nature.”

The events of the not-so-distant past came to mind.

It felt like the scenes of that terrible great war were flashing before my eyes.

“Do you think my thoughts are strange?”

At Seop’s words, I was silent for a moment.

Then, I smiled and slowly replied.

“It’s understandable. I would hate them too if I were you.”

“…Is it okay to answer like that? Aren’t you human too?”

Seop’s expression changed.

“I saw an elf eating meat at the Mirenae Village festival.”

He looked like he wanted to ask what that had to do with anything.

But I didn’t care about his gaze and continued to speak.

“Among the dwarves who like alcohol, there were some who didn’t drink. Even though they are goblins who are supposed to live in harmony with nature, some of them said they found the city fun and were living in the downtown area.”

I paused for a moment and looked at Seop.

“Not all humans are the same, Elder. Perhaps you, who have lived longer than me, know that better than anyone else?”

Not all humans are the same.

Seop repeated those words several times.

I know.

I know that humans are all different.

Lee Cheol’s words came back to me.

“But that doesn’t mean we can deny what happened in the past. So I understand you, Elder. I just hope you know that not all humans are the same.”

Just looking at Lee Jae-hak, he’s someone who thinks of everyone as an enemy.

Humans hate humans like that, so what does it matter if goblins hate them?

“…I see.”

Seop’s expression was quite relaxed.

The look in his eyes as he looked at me was filled with a coolness that had shaken off his regrets, rather than emptiness.

“Why did you come back when I had chased you away so much? Even getting hurt in the process.”

“My people were in trouble, so I couldn’t ignore it. How many goblins did I make friends with?”

“Friends, friends…”

Seop’s voice echoed softly.

Seop looked at Lee Cheol.

In that figure, he saw a glimpse of the friend he had met in the distant past.

“That’s right. We were friends.”

Under Hallasan Mountain, a goblin laughed cheerfully.

* * *

After staying in Mirenae Village for a while and helping to restore the ruined village, I decided to slowly descend the mountain.

“Are you leaving already? Hyung [older brother/friend]! Let’s play some more!”

“Heeing! I want to play more too.”

“Gyeong-ah, Yoong-ah. He has things to do.”

As always, Gyeong was being stubborn, Yoong was tearing up, and Chang was trying to stop them like an adult.

I chuckled and stroked their heads.

“See you next time.”

“Okay!”

I greeted them and approached Ryeo and Seop, who were standing in front of me.

I looked at Ryeo with a slightly worried expression.

“The magic surrounding the mountain has been broken as the seal was broken, are you going to be okay?”

“Huh! A human who is much younger than us is worrying about goblins. Don’t worry. Could humans find goblins whenever they wanted to? We were the ones who always went to them first.”

I chuckled.

That was true.

Seop silently looked at me and said in a weak voice.

“Don’t worry. Now that the long feud is over, it’s time for us to go out into the world too.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

Seop looked down at me silently.

And he gave a strange smile.

“Not all humans are the same.”

“…That’s right.”

“I still hate humans.”

Seop’s sudden words.

And then, one more word.

“But I… don’t hate you.”

I stared at Seop with wide eyes.

Ryeo also looked at Seop in surprise.

Seop cleared his throat and handed me what he had been holding in his hand.

“Take it.”

It was a long object wrapped in white cloth.

When I removed the cloth, I saw something made of black wood and iron.

‘A scabbard?’

It felt much heavier than an ordinary scabbard.

I looked at Seop with questioning eyes.

“It’s a scabbard made by forging black wood and sandalwood, Uncheol [cloud iron] and Seongcheol [star iron]. It’s a scabbard made by infusing my magic during a good time when the year, month, day, and hour overlap.”

Only after hearing that explanation did I understand what the scabbard was for.

Swish-.

I drew the Black Night.

And carefully inserted the Black Night into the new scabbard.

Click!

As if they were a pair from the beginning, the Black Night went into the scabbard perfectly.

‘Ah.’

I let out an exclamation without realizing it.

This is… an amazing object.

The flow of the mysterious power that the unsealed Black Night possessed was completely blocked.

“Remember.”

Seop stared intently at me.

“Sometimes, the scabbard is more important than the sword. The sword means death, but the scabbard means life. Don’t forget that putting the sword in is more important than drawing the sword.”

I nodded at Seop’s words.

A gift that was bound to be surprising.

And, a really grateful gift.

At that time, Gyeong, who had been listening quietly next to me, stepped forward and said.

“Grandma! Can I go see Hyung off? Just to the entrance of the mountain!”

“Oh, oh. Then me too…”

“Me too, Grandma…”

“Sigh! It’s dangerous! No…”

The grandma, who was about to say that, flinched.

Because someone was grabbing her shoulder from behind.

It was Seop.

He just nodded silently, and the Gyeongchangyoong trio were smiling brightly below.

Ryeo sighed as if she couldn’t take it anymore and said.

“Then don’t bother him and just see him off, okay?”

“Yahoo!”

“Hyung! Let’s go! I’ll show you a shortcut!”

Gyeongchangyoong grabbed Lee Cheol’s clothes and pulled him along.

I bowed deeply to Ryeo and Seop.

Behind him, countless goblins and mystical species were smiling brightly and waving their hands.

“Come visit anytime. Goblins don’t abandon their friends.”

With Seop’s farewell, I descended the mountain.

* * *

Seop watched the three goblins and one human descending.

The chattering goblins and the human awkwardly laughing and agreeing with them.

“He’s a good guy, isn’t he?”

“…….”

At Ryeo’s words, Seop nodded.

The memories of the distant past come to mind.

The days when he was playing with humans with his brothers who he can’t see anymore.

Those days will never come again, but at the same time, time goes around and around, and children of another generation will experience those days again.

“There’s a lot to do.”

At Seop’s words, Ryeo nodded.

“Even now, Elder Mu’s magic has been broken, and humans are slowly climbing the mountain. Shall we chase them away?”

Seop smiled.

A very bright smile.

“There’s no need to do that. Just leave them alone. I’ll cast magic to hide the village soon.”

“…Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes. It’s time to stop living like we’re trapped…”

The sun was shining brightly in the sky.

A new sun has risen, so it’s time for new changes to come again.