Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 058. The New Argonaut Expedition Team (2)

“Ahaha! Not only handsome, but funny too?”

When Anagin replied that he knew he was handsome himself, Irida burst into laughter, laughing her heart out.

In contrast to Irida’s excitement, Anagin calmly stated yet another obvious fact.

“I know I’m funny too, so you don’t have to say it every time.”

“Really?”

“Back in my hometown, whenever I made a joke, everyone cracked up.”

“Oh, really?”

“I beat up the ones who didn’t laugh, so everyone laughed.”

“I like this guy.”

Irida said admiringly as she looked at Sanchonius.

Sanchonius smiled faintly.

“I knew you would. Heroes recognize heroes, after all.”

Perhaps pleased that his judgment had been right, Sanchonius looked genuinely delighted.

Irida turned her gaze back to Anagin.

“I’m Irida from Chiron Tower, of the New Argonaut Expedition Team. Nice to meet you. Please speak casually.”

“Thanks. I would’ve spoken casually even if you hadn’t said so, but I’ll be even more casual now. I’m Anagin.”

“You’re growing on me more and more…. Where are you from?”

Irida asked about Anagin’s origins.

Where he was born, where he grew up, or which organization he belonged to.

At first glance, it might seem like a pointless question, but it was surprisingly useful.

A person’s present was inevitably shaped by their past—where they were born, how they grew up, which group they belonged to, and so on.

In other words, just knowing those things gave you a rough idea of what kind of person someone was.

It was a good way to judge someone who carried such contradictory titles as Hero of the Outskirts and Practitioner Killer.

“My hometown village.”

“Oh, hometown village, that’s a very good answer. And a natural one too…. What’s the village called?”

“It doesn’t have one.”

Anagin answered confidently.

It sounded like he might be joking, but unfortunately, he was serious.

The reason was simple: there were no other villages anywhere near the one Anagin had lived in.

A name existed to distinguish oneself from others.

Because of that, Anagin’s village didn’t really need a name.

Being just ‘the village’ was enough. He was the only one there.

Anagin stated this fact with shameless confidence, and Irida listened quietly. After a moment, she spoke.

“Hmmm…. It doesn’t sound like a lie.”

“I tell tall tales, but I don’t lie. I’ve only lied once in my entire life.”

No matter how you looked at it, it sounded like nothing but a contradiction, yet Irida didn’t get angry at being treated like a fool.

Rather than getting angry, she chuckled as if amused.

“One thing’s for sure. You really are crazy enough to pick a fight with the Forest Brotherhood first.”

“Is that a compliment?”

Irida nodded readily. If a practitioner were sane, that would be even stranger.

“Of course it’s a compliment. Good, follow me. I’ll introduce you to the Instructor.”

With that, Irida guided Anagin and his group into the base.

* * *

Sciron’s secret mountain base.

Just as Philos had said, it was quite different from an ordinary bandit hideout.

Unlike the typical bandit dens slapped together haphazardly, Sciron’s base had a systematic, fortress-like structure.

Barracks, dining halls, armories—spaces were divided according to purpose, the paths were well maintained, and naturally, there was a command center from which the bandits had been directed.

Passing by other vigilantes clearing away the bandits’ corpses, Anagin arrived at the command center, where the New Argonaut Expedition Team was gathered.

Well, calling it an “expedition team” was mostly just a name. Including Irida, there were only five of them.

‘If you include Sanchonius, that makes six in total?’

Anagin thought as he looked at the five people inside the command center.

One old man and four youths. For reference, the younger ones looked to be around Anagin’s age.

Irida introduced Anagin to the old man, and Sanchonius followed, stepping forward as well.

After hearing the full explanation, the old man welcomed Anagin.

“Pleased to meet you.”

Seated at a large table, the old man gestured for Anagin to take the seat opposite him and introduced himself.

“I am an instructor affiliated with Chiron Tower. I accompanied them to oversee things.”

As he spoke, the old man gestured to the red-haired Irida beside him, a handsome and refined-looking young man, a massive man carrying an even larger shield on his back, and a man with strikingly large eyes.

After examining them one by one, Anagin sat down opposite the old man who had introduced himself as the Instructor.

“I’m Anagin.”

At Anagin’s brief self-introduction, a few of the people on the old man’s side furrowed their brows.

They clearly didn’t like him.

What was it they didn’t like?

As if offering a hint, the Instructor asked Anagin a question.

“Are you the Anagin who has recently been called the Practitioner Killer?”

“Has the rumor spread this far?”

Anagin asked out of genuine curiosity.

He thought he’d come quite far from the Dolos Family’s territory, yet the rumor had reached even here, in a different region….

They said spoken words could travel a thousand li, but this felt a bit excessive.

“One wouldn't know unless they were actively listening for it. Are you worried?”

“Not particularly worried…. Aren’t you part of the New Argonaut Expedition Team?”

“I’m just an old man who came along to keep an eye on these youngsters.”

“Doesn’t seem like it….”

Anagin said meaningfully as he looked at the old man, the nuance clearly saying: Don’t spout nonsense.

Perhaps that rubbed him the wrong way, because the refined young man interjected. Among the New Argonaut Expedition Team, he seemed especially displeased with Anagin.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’ve got a good nose. You don’t seem like someone who’s just here to supervise.”

“Thank you for the generous assessment.”

At Anagin’s casually tossed remark, the Instructor showed no particular reaction.

“But even so, my role doesn’t change. Whether things turn out good or bad, my job is simply to watch.”

Anagin thought to himself that the instructor before him was indeed no ordinary person.

Earlier, Philos had called Irida a princess, and the three men accompanying her treated Irida casually—very naturally.

On top of that, everything they wore practically oozed nobility.

At the very least, they were nobles, or something close to princes.

And yet, seeing the old man talk like that in front of them meant he was no ordinary figure.

No wonder his master came to mind the moment he first saw him.

Anagin’s interest in them began to grow.

When he first heard of them, it had just been a matter of “let’s take a look,” but now he wanted to observe them more closely.

After a brief silence, the old man spoke.

“I hear you are also fighting the Forest Brotherhood. So, do you wish to join us?”

“Yes.”

Anagin answered immediately.

Perhaps he hadn’t expected such a direct reply, because the old man looked slightly surprised.

“Why is that? Do you think fighting together is safer than fighting alone?”

“Well, that’s part of it, but I also want to see just how impressive you people really are.”

In an instant, everyone’s gaze converged on Anagin.

Sphinx shot him a worried look, as if to ask whether he wasn’t being a bit too much, but Anagin ignored it as he always did and continued speaking his mind.

“The New Argonaut Expedition Team of Chiron Tower…. Everyone keeps going on about how amazing you all are.”

“We are indeed called the hero candidates who will lead the next generation.”

“I want to see with my own eyes whether you’re really that great. I think that’ll give me something to reference.”

“Reference for what?”

“For how I should undertake my own practice. Becoming a god through Jacheon is my goal. But I don’t know the method yet. So I thought I’d use you, impressive folks, as a reference.”

God. And Jacheon.

The moment those two words came out, the eyes looking at Anagin changed.

However, it was not a positive change. It was closer to negative.

The look people gave to a fool attempting the impossible.

Only the Instructor looked at Anagin with the same calm gaze as before.

“You’re trying to walk a very difficult path.”

“If I’m going to do it, I might as well set my sights high. So? Can I join?”

“Well, that’s not for me to decide. What do you all think?”

The Instructor didn’t answer directly and instead asked the New Argonaut Expedition Team standing beside him.

Including Irida and her companions.

He had said he came only to observe, and that really did seem to be the case. Even a decision like this was being left to them.

“I think it should be fine.”

The first to voice an opinion was Irida.

She found Anagin’s ambition of becoming a god absurd, yet she still viewed him favorably.

Considering his exploits at Anapik and the fact that he had captured Sciron, an executive of the Forest Brotherhood, it wasn’t a bad judgment.

“From what Sanchonius said, his skills seem solid, and he looks like he’s under the blessing of Tyche, the goddess of fortune. It’s good to work with someone lucky, right?”

“Lucky? And what are you basing that on?”

The refined young man who had been displeased with Anagin asked sharply.

“Based on Sciron over there. Without the goddess’s blessing, could he really have caught Sciron while he was trying to escape by sheer coincidence?”

Irida pointed at Sciron, who had been left tied up tightly with ropes.

Finding it hard to refute, the young man couldn’t say anything further.

Seizing the momentum, Irida actively pushed for Anagin’s inclusion.

“We need more manpower before the real fight starts, don’t we? What are you hesitating for?!”

Irida wasn’t supporting Anagin simply because she liked him.

He seemed interesting, yes, but separate from that, she had her own calculations.

Hunting the Forest Brotherhood was as easy as squashing bugs, but did people ever truly fear bugs because they couldn’t beat them?

A bug’s strength lay in its overwhelming numbers and its ability to hide well, and the same applied to bandits.

The reason the Forest Brotherhood hadn’t been eradicated until now wasn’t that they were strong. Most of them were criminals who had fled cities, dropouts—how strong could people like that really be?

Truly strong individuals were extremely rare, and even those could usually be taken down by any halfway competent practitioner.

Even so, the Forest Brotherhood endured because they were scattered throughout the vast forest, ready to flee and hide at a moment’s notice. Like cockroaches.

If the Forest Brotherhood were to become frightened of them and start running or hiding, it would clearly become a huge nuisance.

For that reason, Irida strongly supported Anagin’s joining. Wasn’t it better to secure as many hands as possible?

“If things go wrong, we might not be able to cooperate with the practitioner families in Anapik.”

The refined young man voiced his concern cautiously.

They were planning to advance westward through Anapik as they were.

Originally, they had planned to join forces with the practitioner families of Western Anapik. Under the banner of suppressing bandits, cooperation would have been easy enough.

But if Anagin, the so-called Practitioner Killer, joined them, that plan might fall apart.

“That’s worrying over nothing. What if they refuse to help? What then? From what I hear, they’re already getting beaten badly by the Forest Brotherhood. Whether they like it or not, they’ll join hands with us.”

Irida made a swift judgment based on the information Sanchonius had brought.

As she said, the practitioner families of Western Anapik were already suffering at the hands of the Forest Brotherhood, so it would be hard for them to put on airs.

And so, as opinions began to converge toward letting Anagin join—

The Instructor asked Anagin a question.

“Are those people your companions?”

Anagin looked behind him.

There were Sphinx and the siblings Kori and Pais, who, since entering this place, had received no attention at all, like shadows.

“Yes. I figured you weren’t interested since you didn’t ask.”

“I’m suddenly interested. What is your relationship?”

“These two are Kori and Pais. It’s a long story, but we ended up acquainted by chance, and now they’re traveling with me to avenge their grandfather.”

“Those kids?!”

Irida and her companions reacted in shock.

From a common-sense perspective, it was a natural reaction. Two kids who hadn’t even grown peach fuzz yet, saying they were going to fight the Forest Brotherhood—there were limits to not knowing fear.

However, instead of being surprised, the Instructor asked about the other companion.

“And that young lady, are you siblings as well?”

“Ah, I—”

Just as Sphinx was about to answer, Anagin cut in.

“—She’s my younger sister.”

Sphinx and the siblings Kori and Pais looked at Anagin with startled eyes.

Fortunately, they were quick-witted and soon composed their expressions.

“Your sister?”

“Yes. Well, is there a problem?”

When Anagin asked brazenly, despite the difference in skin color, the Instructor shook his head.

With that, the conversation reached a pause, and Irida delivered the decision to Anagin.

“Join us. But there is a condition. Those two kids must be excluded. Go leave them somewhere safe and come back.”

Irida and her companions decided to exclude Kori and Pais.

They couldn't possibly take two ignorant kids into a dangerous battle. It was a perfectly sensible decision that was better for the kids as well.

But their opponent was Anagin.

“Why should they be excluded?”

His tone genuinely said he didn’t understand.

Irida spelled out what seemed blindingly obvious.

“They’re kids. It’s dangerous. I know their circumstances are unfortunate, but this isn’t a game.”

“That’s why I’m asking. Their resolve is heavier than all of yours combined.”

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(T/N): Thousand li - 400–500 km in Korean/Chinese contexts