Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 123

Weapon-Devouring Bastard 123

Unexpectedly, the Heiress didn’t react immediately to my words.

She paused, her lips sealed as if contemplating, before finally looking directly at me.

“Before I hear this method, I think there’s something we need to address. Assuming this method actually works, I want to ask you: What do you want from me… no, from the Black Turtle Association?”

Though she appeared weak and young, her question was befitting someone who had led the Black Turtle Association from a young age.

“Give me the Black Turtle Association.”

The Heiress’s expression twitched at my words.

“What do you mean?”

“The Black Turtle Association is a decentralized organization, so no one would notice even if the Heiress were to change. So, give me the Black Turtle Association.”

“……”

The Heiress’s fair brow slowly furrowed.

She shook her head.

“Then I must refuse.”

“Why?”

“The Black Turtle Association is no longer mine alone. Many people are intertwined under the name of the Black Turtle Association. I cannot sell out my people for my own sake.”

And then, she continued with a subtle smile.

“So, please tell me your true intentions.”

“True intentions?”

“I already know that you are not the type to make such unreasonable demands.”

“……”

It was my turn to furrow my brow.

She was looking straight at me.

Her eyes suggested that she already suspected something about me.

‘…Right, even if she’s young, the Heiress of the Black Turtle Association is still the Heiress.’

Despite her seemingly frail appearance, she was, after all, the one leading the Black Turtle Association.

She might still lack experience and her abilities might not be fully developed, but her talent was undeniable.

Knowing her future self, I knew she was not an easy opponent.

‘It feels like I’ve met someone I can actually talk to after a long time.’

I erased my smile and calmly stated my conditions.

Upon hearing my story, the Heiress of the Black Turtle Association widened her eyes in surprise, then burst into a bright laugh.

* * *

It was just a verbal agreement, but the Heiress accepted my conditions.

Now it was my turn to keep my promise.

“The first method is actually the simplest. But it will require some resolve.”

“Please tell me.”

I paused for a moment before opening my mouth.

“Kill the spirit.”

The Heiress of the Black Turtle Association’s unfocused eyes wavered.

“Am I going deaf?”

“You heard me correctly. Kill the spirit.”

“What on earth…”

I cut off the Heiress and continued immediately.

“The reason the Heiress’s spiritification is progressing is because the spirit factor in your body continues to erode your human aspects. So, you need to separate the spirit part. The method is surprisingly simple. Kill the same spirit.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Spirits are not beings with physical bodies like mystical creatures or divine species. They may seem to have bodies at first glance, but they are merely collections of power created by nature. Eliminating the spirit’s appearance before your eyes doesn’t mean the spirit dies.”

Spirits have no physical body.

They were beings closer to thought forms or mental entities.

A prime example was Leshy, whom I had seen before entering this place.

He appeared to have a body made of trees and grass, but that was merely a manifestation of Leshy’s essence, not his actual body.

But that didn’t mean there was no way to kill a spirit.

“Could it be…”

The Heiress of the Black Turtle Association’s lips trembled.

I nodded.

“Burn the forests, pollute the waters… there are many ways. Spirits are beings that embody nature. When that nature dies, so does the spirit.”

This was the simplest method.

To make the spirit within the Heiress’s body leave on its own.

The Heiress paused, momentarily taken aback by the rather shocking story, and fell into thought.

Then, she smiled and looked at me.

“The fact that you brought up such a drastic idea first means that the second method is the main point.”

Indeed, it was easier to converse with her.

I smiled and brought up the next topic.

“The second method requires a rather difficult process. It’s a method I can’t even guarantee. The Heiress’s efforts will be more important than my abilities.”

I looked straight into the eyes of the Heiress of the Black Turtle Association.

“Master mana, and make the spirit kneel.”

* * *

The treatment began.

Baek Gyeong-hui had to return due to her position as the head of the Black Turtle Association’s Korean branch and her status as the head of the Hunter Association, leaving only Natalia behind.

The first step of the treatment was this:

“Fill this place with things made by humans.”

I had her replace the furniture, which was made from processed trees felled by storms, with factory-made items, and install all sorts of electronic devices, including heating appliances in the otherwise chilly interior.

Since we couldn’t draw electricity, we brought in a large generator, which was the epitome of inefficiency but the best we could do.

The somewhat desolate cabin began to be filled with all sorts of objects in just a few days.

Of course, Natalia did not readily follow my instructions.

“I don’t believe it. There must be a reason why the previous Heiresses didn’t take this approach.”

Natalia glared at me, having abandoned her initial politeness.

The reason she was so resistant was because of the Heiress’s condition.

“Ugh…”

As artificial objects filled her surroundings, the Heiress began to groan in pain.

The pain was a very unfamiliar sensation to the Heiress.

The processed goods, with traces of chemical treatment, constantly emitted a nauseating smell, and the cushions of the bed, which softly enveloped her body, felt like they were poking her skin.

The sounds coming from the audio system felt like they were scraping her eardrums, and the light emanating from the TV or PC felt like it was piercing her eyes.

The Heiress was feeling sensations that even a trained warrior would not notice, one by one, in detail.

“Haa, haa…”

The Heiress was sweating profusely and letting out suppressed groans.

Was this how a newborn baby felt when it encountered the world?

Too many stimuli, felt even in minute detail.

Things that would not be stimulating to ordinary people came to the Heiress as pain.

Once she seemed to have adapted to some extent to the artificial environment, which was the first step, I moved on to the second step.

Improving her diet.

I had her abandon the natural foods that even elves wouldn’t eat and eat processed foods.

“Ugh!”

Bacon, ham, salads with dressing, flavored fruit juices, heavily seasoned processed foods, and preserved foods that ordinary people would eat with relish.

At first, the Heiress couldn’t even swallow them, spitting them out as soon as they entered her mouth.

Even if she managed to swallow them, she couldn’t digest them and would just throw them up.

“Young Master Lee Cheol… is this really right?”

Natalia gritted her teeth as if she would unleash her killing intent on me at any moment.

I sighed and explained the same things I had explained several times.

“Being in pain is a good sign. She grew up in an environment like a germ-free room, so it will take time to adapt, but in the end, this process is necessary to overcome it completely.”

Because she felt pain from artificial things, the previous Heiresses had tried to create an environment as natural as possible.

But there was nothing more foolish than that.

It was an act of denying her human aspects and accelerating spiritification.

‘But it must be tough.’

To put it in terms of ordinary people’s senses, the pain the Heiress was feeling now would be like smelling burning vinyl right in front of her nose.

The audio sounds would sound like nails scratching a chalkboard, and the processed foods would feel like eating spoiled food or poison.

‘But she has to do it, even if it’s forced.’

She had to live like an ordinary person, even if it meant enduring such pain.

“Lia… stop. I agreed to this.”

“……I can’t understand.”

Natalia glared at me and supported the disheveled Heiress.

I pointed to the Heiress and said.

“Can’t you tell by looking at her? She’s sweating.”

“So what about the sweat… sweat?”

Natalia’s eyes flashed as she looked at the beads of sweat on the Heiress’s forehead.

Natalia had been watching over the Heiress since she was born.

Since the age of 10, Natalia had never seen the Heiress experience the bodily functions that a human should naturally have.

But now she was sweating.

“Th, that’s…”

“Even mystical species don’t live like this. Try to live more like a human. The spirit part in your body will reject it… but you have to endure it.”

The Heiress hadn’t slept properly for days, but her body was actually becoming more and more human.

“Then, just doing this will restore the Heiress?”

Natalia’s voice trembled.

I shook my head.

“This is just environmental improvement. If she had a constitution that could be overcome with just this, she wouldn’t have suffered until now.”

“Then what on earth…”

“You have to learn mana manipulation.”

Thus, the third and most important ‘training’ began.

Every morning and evening, I took the Heiress to an empty space in the forest and sat facing her.

“First, let’s check your physical condition.”

“Yes, please.”

I used my magic eye to check the Heiress’s condition as she sat calmly.

‘It’s progressing much faster than in my past life.’

The Heiress’s spiritification was much more advanced than I had expected.

In my past life, the Heiress of the Black Turtle Association overcame these aftereffects before she turned 30 and appeared to the world as a human who controlled spirits.

But in this state, she wouldn’t last 5 years, let alone 30.

‘If I had been a little later, it might have been irreversible.’

Her vitality as a person was extremely faint.

It was like a critically ill patient in a coma, teetering between life and death.

‘Even in that state, her mana is incredible. Is this the amount of mana a human can possess?’

I would have believed it if you told me it was the body of a mystical species.

To exaggerate a bit, the amount of mana swirling in the Heiress’s body was equivalent to that of a small territory.

Even I, who had wandered through various sacred mountains to accumulate mana and absorbed weapons, amethystine chalcedony, and the elixirs of the Milky Way Village, didn’t even reach half of the Heiress’s amount.

‘Controlling this mana… it’s going to be a headache.’

A sigh escaped me, but I deliberately held it back.

I thought it would make her unnecessarily nervous.

“It’s a little better, though.”

The Heiress gave an awkward smile at my words.

“My physical condition is literally the worst. I threw up everything I ate this morning.”

“Swallow it, even if you have to force yourself. So that your body can digest it.”

“Yes, I will.”

“You sometimes stop breathing too. You even forget to blink. Do it consciously. Hiss, ha, hiss, ha… inhale and exhale like this…”

“Hehe.”

The Heiress suddenly burst into laughter.

“……Why are you doing that?”

“No, I’m sorry. Even so, do you think I don’t even know how to breathe?”

The Heiress smiled and sat down.

“But thank you. I really… feel like I see a little hope.”

“It’s still a long way off. You have to completely control the mana in your body. The reason I taught you how to breathe is because the beginning of basic mana manipulation starts with breathing.”

I taught the Heiress mana manipulation.

But that didn’t mean I was going to raise the Heiress as a warrior or a mage.

“Thank you again today.”

I said that not to the Heiress, but to the empty air.

At that moment, darkness descended on the forest.

Something huge cut through the darkness and landed on the ground.

-So, this is what you meant by asking me to help….

Thud-

Leshy, the spirit of the forest.

He pushed aside the trees and appeared before me.