Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 3

Tale of Nangseon – Episode 2

Eongol Village.

It was a respectable village that had grown from Eongdong Village, a name derived from its large, buttock-shaped valley, over time.

There, an extraordinary tiger and a white-haired child riding on its back, constantly grinning, were leisurely heading into the village.

[Stop pulling my fur!] the tiger thought.

The mountain path is quite rough.

But how can such tiny hands have so much strength? My ears are about to fall off.

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

The child, realizing their mistake, quickly apologized and wrapped their arms around the tiger’s neck.

[Don’t hug me!] the tiger thought.

I felt annoyed for no reason.

“Hing…. I might fall off, though….”

As we bickered, we arrived at our destination before we knew it.

[Get down.]

“Okay!”

Surprisingly obedient.

Climbing down from the mountain lord’s body with a ‘heave-ho,’ Choa spat out the fur that had gotten into their mouth, wiping it away.

I still don’t like it, the tiger thought.

But even this is now over. Meetings are short, and partings are long, but the mountain lord prefers both to be short.

[It was a short but unpleasant time. Let’s never meet again.]

Nothing good comes from associating with the White Blood Fiend [a being with potent, often chaotic, spiritual energy].

I don’t want to meet them ever again in my life.

I gave them a few ginseng roots, so they can sell them or give them to a suitable family to raise them. They’ll probably take them in.

The mountain lord is not a saint. It’s absurd to take in and raise a kid like this.

Besides, I am the mountain lord of Mount Baek [a sacred mountain in Korean lore, often associated with powerful spirits and origins].

A tiger among tigers, with a presence that would make the villagers faint and wet themselves with just a sidelong glance.

There’s no good in being with a child.

Thinking that, I turned around.

“Ah! Where are you going, husband!”

Damn it!

The child, panting, ran over and grabbed the mountain lord’s tail, refusing to let go.

Grabbing an animal’s tail is a very, very bad thing to do. I want to spank their bottom, but I think escaping is the priority.

[I am a tiger. If the villagers see me, they will be terrified and panic, and the village will be in chaos. So, it’s better for you to leave now.]

“Y-yes, but! Where are you going, leaving your wife behind!”

[Not your wife, you brat.]

Wife, my foot.

“We spent the first night together, so Choa is your wife!”

[You are not my wife! How can a tiger and a human get married in the first place! And why do you keep saying ‘first night,’ is it because it sounds like your name! Don’t speak carelessly when you don’t even know the ‘first’ thing about it!]

“Still! Choa married the Mountain Lord, so you have to take responsibility!”

Who is this kid trying to fool!

And what responsibility are they talking about! If I had done something, I wouldn’t feel so wronged.

[I am not a tiger with that much time!]

I’m busy going around Mount Baek, stomping on the guys who keep crawling up.

[So, let go!]

“N-no! Take Choa with you!”

[You brat! Didn’t I give you ginseng! Just eat well and live well with that!]

Ungrateful thing!

Those few ginseng roots are so precious that you can live without working for years.

To be so stubborn without knowing that.

“I don’t want it! I don’t need these weeds without you, husband!”

The ginseng in their hand was flung to the ground, and they grabbed the tail even tighter.

Even while sobbing, their grip was so strong; they were no ordinary kid.

[…Your heart for your husband is admirable.]

Choa blushed at the sudden, gentle voice.

“N-no, it’s not really….”

Choa twisted their body at the sudden praise. But the mountain lord took the opportunity to pull out their tail.

“Ah!! That’s too much!”

[Your heart for your husband is admirable, but I am not your husband!]

It wasn’t like the mountain lord of Mount Baek.

It was pathetic to see them tricking a child and being so proud of themselves.

“I don’t care! Take responsibility for Choa!”

I doubted if they were really the White Blood Fiend.

Where did the blood-spraying ghost go, and why is there such a stubborn kid here?

“Even if you run away from here, Choa will climb Mount Cheon alone! It’s no use leaving me here! You’ll be punished by heaven if you abandon your wife after spending the first night together!”

That’s right.

Even though Choa is young, they have the blood of the White Blood Fiend.

Their superior physical abilities will make it easier for them to climb to the top of Mount Baek.

“A-and! I already have….”

Choa stroked their lower abdomen and sparkled their eyes. Then, the mountain lord stared at Choa’s belly, as if stunned by this absurd situation.

At that moment!

Choa grabbed the mountain lord’s tail again. They were quite a cunning child.

[……Okay, okay, I understand. Let go of my tail.]

“I don’t wanna! If I let go, you’ll abandon Choa!”

Did this kid learn mind reading….

[…Ahem. Then… go to the village and sell the ginseng.]

“Sell it?”

Their words were getting shorter.

[…Yes. How can I live with a wife who doesn’t even bring a dowry? Sell that ginseng and exchange it for… clothes or food for yourself.]

“Dowry!”

Their eyes widened as if they had heard it for the first time. It was obvious what they were imagining. Seeing their lips curling up and smiling foolishly, it seemed like they were dreaming of a rosy future.

Anyway, the mountain lord smiled satisfactorily at their eloquence.

[Yes. Go to the village and get a dowry. That way, this Mountain Lord’s face will be saved.]

“Okay! I’ll get a dowry! Oh, my. I forgot such an obvious thing.”

Good, good.

What a good child.

[People will be surprised to see me, so I’ll wait around here. So, hurry back.]

“I’ll be back! Don’t go anywhere!”

Choa immediately let go of the tail and nodded repeatedly. Holding the three ginseng roots tightly in their arms, they waved their arms and ran towards the village, then fell with a thud.

“Hnyaak!”

Oh, dear.

“…It hurts.”

But they didn’t cry and slowly got up, then dusted off their skirt. And then, waving their arms again, they ran towards the village.

[Ahem….]

I felt bad, as if I had done something wrong, but what could I do?

That’s how the world is.

[The world is originally like that. It’s the fault of the one who gets tricked, and the world is such that the stupid get taken advantage of. Besides, if you think about it, aren’t I also a victim? I was just minding my own business when I was about to have my chastity stolen by a kid, right?]

That’s right.

The mountain lord gave a puppy who didn’t know the fear of tigers a lesson in life.

The world is rough, and life is not so easy.

Even this alone would be a valuable experience for Choa. Besides, with three ginseng roots, they could buy a house and still have money left over, so they would live well on their own. In the first place, they are a child with the destiny of the White Blood Fiend, so they will live well on their own.

As they consoled themselves, a smile spread across their face.

[Kuhahaha! I should go home and take a nap!]

The mountain lord wiggled their butt and went up Mount Baek.

* * *

At the same time.

Choa entered the village with the ginseng roots in their arms.

It wasn’t difficult to enter because the village had no palisade and no sense of tension.

Choa looked around and ran to a place where many people were gathered. They grabbed the skirt of one of the women who was working busily and asked.

“Where do I sell this?”

“Huh? Oh my, you scared me!”

White hair and blue eyes.

For a moment, she was startled, thinking a ghost had popped out.

“Oh my, what kind of ghostly thing is this… What is this? It’s not a bellflower root… What is it? There’s no way a child would be carrying ginseng, what is this?”

It looked like ginseng, but there was no way a snot-nosed kid would be carrying such a precious thing, so she had no idea what it was.

In the first place, it’s natural that ordinary people, not herbalists or doctors, generally don’t recognize these things well.

When the woman made a face as if she didn’t know, Choa put their fist on their hip and said confidently.

“It’s ginseng!”

“Ginseng? Really?”

Listening to it, it seemed strangely special, and when she smelled the human-like root, her nose tingled and a refreshing medicinal scent seemed to come from it.

If it was ginseng, even if it was only a few decades old, it would be worth a gold coin, so it was a precious thing that would allow them to live without working for a few years.

‘There’s no way a kid like this would be carrying such a precious thing….’

She must have dug up a weed similar to ginseng and was mistaken. The woman handed the ginseng back to Choa and pointed to the house across the street, saying.

“That’s the only pharmacy in our village, so go there and ask.”

“Okay! Thank you!”

The woman looked at the white-haired, blue-eyed child and thought it was strange, shrugged her shoulders, and went back to her work.

Her appearance was so extraordinary that she had no desire to get involved.

Choa entered the pharmacy and frowned at the smell of medicinal herbs that hit their nose.

“Ugh.”

Choa, holding their nose at the strong medicinal smell from the various herbs and decoctions, ran to an old man who was fanning a decoction nearby.

“Grandpa, I came to sell this!”

The old man’s wrinkles deepened as a child he had never met suddenly spoke to him and acted friendly.

“Who are you… Heok!”

Just as he was about to say something.

The old man felt like his heart was stopping for a moment, thinking a ghost had come.

But that was only for a moment.

The old man’s face was filled with astonishment at the three ginseng roots the girl handed him.

“W-where did you get this!”

“My husband gave it to me!”

The girl, smiling brightly, looked a little dirty, but the clothes she was wearing looked new and she was even wearing flower shoes. Judging from her appearance, she didn’t seem like a common neighborhood kid.

‘Is she a child from a noble family?’

But even so, the young girl didn’t have anyone she was using as a servant. The pharmacy old man, stroking his long beard like a broom for a moment, took the ginseng and looked at it this way and that.

“Heo….”

Two of the roots looked at least a hundred years old, and one of them was three hundred years old. Even if they just called out a price, those who practiced Taoism [a philosophical and religious tradition emphasizing harmony with the Tao] would be searching with their eyes wide open for something that had been around for so long.

“So…. You came to sell this?”

“Yes! I have to get a dowry.”

“Dowry?”

“My husband told me to sell this and get a dowry!”

He didn’t like the girl’s way of speaking, which went back and forth between informal and formal, but he liked the items she brought.

But his pharmacy was too shabby to buy such precious materials, and he didn’t have the ability to pay a reasonable price.

The white-haired girl looked quite foolish, so if he came up with a trick, he could easily swallow three ginseng roots.

But if he cheated a noble’s child, his life, which didn’t have much left anyway, could be cut short in an instant.

However, the spirituality contained in the three ginseng roots clouded his judgment.

After much deliberation, he took a deep breath.

“Sigh, how long will I live anyway. Girl. This old man doesn’t have the ability to buy it, so go to Kim the Rich’s house over there, tell them that Pharmacist Choi Chil-sam said it was ginseng, and try selling it there.”

“Kim the Rich?”

“Yes, in this small village, the only family rich enough to buy ginseng is Kim the Rich’s family.”

Choa took back the ginseng and bowed her head.

“I will, thank you!”

“Hehe, go ahead.”

The white-haired girl held the ginseng in her arms and ran again.

The old man smacked his lips as he watched her leave, then turned his head back to fanning the decoction.

* * *

The mountain lord, who had quickly returned to his home, thought while gnawing on the hind leg of a deer he had hunted on the way back.

When he left her behind, he felt relieved to have gotten rid of the leech-like girl, but when he thought about it, he felt uneasy.

[What if she really brings a dowry and barges in here?]

Should I move?

The mountain lord shook his head.

[No. The mountain lord of Mount Baek can’t move because of a kid.]

To move his residence because of a leech-like kid, even the dogs passing by would laugh.

But the uneasiness was real.

Besides, he gave her three ginseng roots, which were very precious in the human world, so she could be scammed by nasty guys or robbed.

It would be fortunate if they only took the ginseng, but what if they were killed to keep their mouths shut….

[Ah, damn it….]

The mountain lord, who suddenly lost his appetite, slapped the deer’s hind leg with his front paw.

This era had terrible security and was a scary era where illegal activities occurred frequently. But with that precious thing in the hands of a child, she could really die in an instant.

[No…. But she’s the White Blood Fiend, would she die so easily….]

She’s a kid who will become a monster that even the military can’t kill, so would she die so easily? But why was the image of Choa falling so clumsily a moment ago lingering in his mind?

[Damn it…. She’s a really annoying kid.]

[Are you worried about that child?]

A calm voice echoed in the cave, but the mountain lord got up, pretending not to hear, and muttered as if making excuses to someone.

[I’m not worried. I just think I gave her too many ginseng roots, so I’m going back to get them back. Yeah, that’s right.]

The mountain lord muttered and stomped on the innocent ground for no reason, trudging down the mountain path.