Chapter 20 : The Jester and the Geniuses (1)
Chapter 20: The Jester and the Geniuses (1)
Early dawn, Duar awoke and prepared for another day.
In truth, aside from cooking and cleaning, he had little to do here, but since no one could do it properly, it remained an important task.
He lit the hearth in the center of the dining hall and began cooking.
The ingredients weren’t plentiful, but the diners weren’t picky and Duar’s skills were quite decent, so there was no issue.
“General. The meal is ready.”
After delivering the message in front of Moritz’s room, Duar returned to the dining hall and brushed off the snow that had accumulated at the entrance.
Moments later, Moritz entered the dining hall and silently took her seat.
Duar, tense, watched her expression as he tasted a spoonful of the soup and confirmed she took a second spoonful before speaking.
“Then I will go see hyungnim.”
With that he quickly took care of Hindir’s meal and hurried out of the dining hall.
“Phew….”
He exhaled a long breath and barely calmed his pounding heart.
At first he thought it might be due to her appearance.
Since joining Seolyandan, he had never seen a woman—and now he was left alone with such a beauty….
But now he knew for certain.
Moritz was more terrifying than Hindir or Ubol.
Hindir was taciturn but had a certain humor, and Ubol was fierce and rough though nothing beyond that.
But Moritz was unknowable.
Ever since they’d been left in pair, he had never once seen her speak, and her composed, pristine demeanor was terrifying to the extreme.
Even now, that was apparent.
From head to toe, her posture was immaculate—as if she hadn’t slept a wink.
How could a human be like that?
To put it kindly, she was perfect; unkindly, she was mad….
Shivering—
Duar trembled in his body and hurried forward.
But before he fully exited Choranchai, he had to stop again.
“Huh?”
In a blink, a man had appeared ahead.
Clad in thick fur clothing, the first things Duar noticed were his thinly curved eyes and affable smile.
He even waved cheerfully.
“Nice to meet you!”
“Wh‑what?” Duar stammered, taking a cautious step back.
His instincts repeatedly warned him that the man was not normal.
“Are you from Choranchai by any chance?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Wow, you found it accurately.”
“……”
Regardless of hearing or not, the man strode inside and Duar followed muttering in his mind.
He had a feeling that if he ignored him and left, his head might roll on the ground.
“Huff huff, oh? Were you having a meal?”
“Well, it’s breakfast time.”
“Impressive. This is the busiest camp I’ve seen in Seolyandan. May I join a bite? I was starving all night.”
As he glanced toward the dining hall, Duar, realizing his slip‑up, offered Hindir’s meal he was holding.
“Here, please. I was about to take it out to get some wind in Snow Dragon Valley anyway.”
“Oh! May I? Haha, I’m sorry! Since things are like this, let’s eat together.”
Not refusing, he grabbed it eagerly, sat nearby, and tasted the food.
“Wow— this tastes good! Why are you even in Seolyandan? At this level, you could open a shop in the Parno territory.”
“W‑well, that sort of level it’s not.”
“No, no. It’s the best cooking I’ve had in this snowy field!”
The more he praised, the more Duar’s back grew damp with sweat.
‘Is he from the Main Temple? If so, they should cut my throat immediately. No, wait—Main Temple already suffered First General; what’s the point of sending only one person? So what kind of guy is he?’
Lately he kept thinking he was meeting crazier people than ones within the normal range of humanity.
“Burp—! I feel alive now.”
The man finished his meal in an instant, belched into the air, then turned his gaze back to Duar.
“Thanks for saving me. In this cold snowy field, I didn’t expect such a warm reception.”
Duar grew increasingly anxious.
“Ah, well…. One should return help if one can.”
“Right. With how this world has become, first thing people do when they meet is draw a sword. Tsk tsk.”
“Yes, indeed.”
“So it’s really a pity things turned out like this.”
“……”
“But you don’t seem particularly worth much, so by my authority I’ll pretend I didn’t see. Having received this kindness, could I just kill you?”
Duar swallowed a curse inwardly.
“…Are you from the Main Temple?”
“Haha, I’m not from there. I was merely asked to come.”
That was the same statement.
“Are you here looking for someone?”
“Ay— if I reveal too much detail you might get into trouble. Is that okay with you?”
“……”
It was obvious.
Hindir had spared some of First General’s followers and if they heard everything, they would know exactly how many were here.
Maybe he should be grateful at least for being spared.
But Duar saw in a fleeting moment.
Through the slitted eyes of the man smiling, he glimpsed a cold gaze.
“…That’s enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am Warrior Duar. Even if I perish, I cannot betray the hyungnim who showed me kindness.”
“Oh— is that so?”
The man’s eyes curved even more, revealing a chilling smile.
At the same time, a flash of light approached Duar.
‘Gasp!’
Before he could scream or tightly close his eyes, an attack came so fast.
Bang—!
Just as his life‑flash began, with a roar, someone grabbed Duar’s neck and sent his body flying backward.
“Ugh?”
He rolled on the ground, barely regained his senses, and lifted his head to see Moritz standing there, blocking the man’s sword.
“Here, General!”
The other maintained a smiling face as he greeted Moritz.
“Miss Moritz! It has been a long time since I saw you. You are still beautiful!”
“……”
“Your taciturnness is also as ever.”
It was a strange sight.
On one side the expression was blank the entire time, while the other smiled throughout.
And both swords were clinging together as if they were originally one.
“Because I felt a familiar aura from the inside, I thought perhaps—and indeed it was.”
“….”
“Haha, wonderful. I will speak frankly. Actually, I confirmed that Miss Moritz was alone. There is no one else, so that is a million times fortunate. Where did that person named Ubol and the other one go? Did they step away, or did they run away? Or did Miss Moritz kill them? Either way, the important thing is that they’re gone!”
Watching the man jabber on incoherently, Duar clicked his tongue.
Seeing that cold aura-radiating face speaking so much was astonishing.
‘…No. Perhaps having no reaction at all is more abnormal? Which side is crazier?’
Actually Moritz seemed somewhat more annoyed, as she first shook off her sword and pushed the man away.
“Oh dear, indeed quite heavy. No, have I become heavier? Did you eat something good in the meantime? There’s no way you achieved enlightenment in that time.”
The man, with a noisy motion, leapt back and rotated the wrist holding the sword this way and that.
Duar, watching, could not grasp what it meant.
“This won’t be easy…. I ask just in case: do you intend to come over here again? Or have you originally been aligned toward Seolyandan all along?”
“….”
“If that is so, how about we kill others together? I heard that Ubol is someone who should be spared. The other one’s skill was said to be nontrivial, and since you personally saw Miss Moritz, you know well. Then he could be helpful…”
Swish!
Moritz’s blade struck vertically down, and the man spun around greatly and deflected the blow.
“Haha, is that your answer? Still, I liked Miss Moritz. Your teacher disliked me so much that I never had the chance to build rapport. But since it ended up like this, it’s unfortunate—but I’ve got to earn my keep as well.”
Chattering, while defending against Moritz’s attacks several times, he eventually grabbed his sword sloppily and swung it as if throwing.
Moritz blocked that, but his body rebounded instead, then he staggered as if dancing and swung his sword widely in the opposite direction.
In the process, he even threw his sword and switched it to the opposite hand in a bizarre move.
The movement was so comical that Duar couldn’t help but snicker.
But Moritz, without changing expression, calmly defended and counterattacked.
One was clownish and boisterous, the other wielded a sword with refined movements.
In Duar’s eyes it looked simply odd and humorous as a swordplay duel, but in fact the power exchanged within it was considerable.
And Moritz clearly felt the difference in skill within it.
Her opponent was toying with her.
Though it appeared that she defended narrowly, he was deftly only cutting her clothes.
Also, once in a while, sharp thrusts aimed at sensitive body parts.
As if asking: will you still maintain that blank expression?
Clang!
After one powerful clash, the man stepped back some distance, shrugged his shoulders, and spoke.
“Wow—truly nothing like a mere stone. Or should I call it ice?”
“….”
“Alright. I admit that doing this moderately isn’t good enough. So I too…”
Suddenly, the man’s mouth snapped shut.
And the corner of his lips, which had been raised, quietly descended; only his eyes smiled, making his expression all the more bizarre.
At the edge of his gaze was a giant wearing red leather.
“…I’m sorry, but I must go now.”
He kicked off and immediately widened the distance.
Clatter—
But not long after exiting Choranchai, a suddenly risen ice wall blocked the road.
“Oopscha!”
Without flinching, he planted his foot into the ice and climbed it like stairs to overcome it.
“…Ice?”
Realizing that the opponent he had seen had been only one, he drew his sword again right away.
Screeeek—
The long blade passed so close it cut a few strands of hair.
One side of Ubol’s face, swelling red, extended with a confident expression toward the opposite hand.
Shhwhoosh—
Following his hand the cold wind swept across, shaking the man’s balance.
“Parno!”
As if he understood, the man shouted.
“So you were Parno!”
“You bastard. Don’t shout that loudly.”
Ubol and the man exchanged dozens of iterations of combat in an instant.
Mist-like cold attacked the man’s body from around, but with his characteristic flamboyant motions he shook it off with flapping limbs.
“What a mess of chaos.”
“Haha, it’s so cold I can’t help it!”
Their blades clashed sparks flew as force struggle ensued, and Ubol became more certain he had the advantage.
But that was exactly the opponent’s intention; he realized it only after witnessing an unexpected attack.
Grrr—
Flames blazed from the man’s hand.
“Magic?”
Though somewhat erratic, his swordsmanship was considerable.
But at the same time, able to handle magic?
Ubol, startled, let go of his saber and extended both hands.
He seemed newly awakened and about to use his strength calmly, but things twisted again.
Ka‑bang!
A fireball shot toward Ubol.
And the explosively expelled cold followed.
The two opposing forces met and merged, and following the shape of the blast, they froze exactly in place in a mystical sight.
But the fact that cold could freeze the flame meant that Ubol’s cold power had greater superiority.
Crackling!
The cold, extending from there, attacked the man thoroughly, sharply scraping across his body and drawing blood.
The blood spurted and then froze into long red icicles, and as the storm of energy subsided, the flame ball and ice turned into an ice statue.
“Damn… this is Blood‑Ice Flower….”
Ubol was moved by the fact that a Blood‑Ice Flower, a power allowed only to the pure-blooded of the clan, had blossomed by itself.
“No, you only made a plausible imitation. The true Blood‑Ice Flower is beautiful enough to enthrall those who see it. Not this grotesque form.”
By the time Hindir approached to intercede, it was already so.