Chapter 38: 37

Shura and I were sparring with real swords in the outdoor training ground. Although we’re using real swords instead of wooden swords, our training was not really dangerous. Shura could certainly dodge my strokes and even if we made a mistake, we wouldn’t get hurt seriously because we were wearing protective gears made of Fraker’s skin.  

Clang! Clang!

After several rounds of attack and defense, Shura started wielding her Dalahan in a strange curve and sharply stretched it towards my chest. I could’ve dodged her stroke easily but instead, I used my Yojo to bounce off Dalahan.

Swordsmanship was not like mathematical formulas or academic subjects. No matter how many times one tried to learn by listening to other people’s advice or lecture, one could never understand swordsmanship. One should learn it by using one’s physical body to experience both good and bad skills for real.

“That’s good.”

Bouncing off Dalahan, I distanced from her 

Shura put Dalahan in the middle of her body again and started circling around me.

She was trying to catch off my guard but it was a meaningless effort anyway.

She was moving in a circle but I was only turning my body as she kept moving. In this situation, it’s easier for me to catch off her guard since she was moving much more. 

Mistakes tend to happen more when one tries to do more.

‘I should teach her some lessons.’

While continuously turning my body according to her move, I slightly put my guard down intentionally. And just as I expected, Shura rushed towards me in an instant. Then I dodged Dalahan easily and stretched Yojo towards her.

She made a subtle face. She wasn’t surprised at all even though I was about to stroke her. Actually, there’s a slight smile on her face. Shortly after, I could hear her shout.

“Light Explosion!”

At that moment, a huge storm of rays poured down over me. ‘Light Explosion’ was 1-Level magic of Dalahan which could make enemies blind with intense light. She probably knew that I put my guard down on purpose and tried to trick me instead.

It was a nice try but still quite meaningless. By the time the storm of rays disappeared, I already put the blade of Yojo very close to her neck.

I put away my arm with which I covered my eyes and then stared at her. She was very embarrassed since her plan didn’t work.

“What did you just do?”

She barely opened her mouth.

“It is Dalahan’s magic.”

“I know that too. I didn’t ask about the magic. I asked you why you’re off your guard at the last moment. Did you think it was over once I fell into your trap?” 

“That’s…:”

“Never put your guard down until the last moment. In a real battle, you will lose your life because of that kind of carelessness. You’ve got plenty of time to enjoy your win after you make sure that your opponent is completely incapable of keeping fighting.”

“Yes, Master…”

She couldn’t make any excuse and sunk her head on her chest. I slightly put away Yojo off her neck.

“But you know, your plan was pretty good. If the opponent wasn’t me but a different guy, you would’ve won it. Nice job.”

“Thank you.”

I finished my advice with a compliment. The result was a failure yet I really liked her cunning plan to trick me. Frankly, I was a little surprised. Now, her swordsmanship was not clumsy like before. Her attack was very sharp and her strategy became complicated enough to trick her opponent.

Given all her improvement, Shura seemed like a typical genius swordswoman. She probably had her natural gift in swordsmanship. So, I was getting more curious about her parents.

I glanced at her Dalahan.

“By the way, have you learned healing magic?”

“Not large scale healing magic yet, Master. I did learn individual healing magic though.”

“That’s still good enough. Healing magic is quite useful so keep learning. One day, it will save you big time.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Today’s sparring is over now. Now, you can train whatever you want from the rest of the hours.”

I asked her to train by herself and headed back to the office. The only thing I could teach her was the ‘Techniques’. She should figure out the ‘Way’ of swordsmanship by her heart.

“Hmm…”

The office was covered with all sorts of clothes and bags. A gorgeous scarlet dress was on a reception table. Above the counter, there was a black female suit decorated with gold threads. Also, various kinds of clothes and bags were here and there. Not long ago, I gave 300 riffs of gold to Armida for her help and now the office was in this mess. 

Armida was standing in front of a mirror and checking her new bags. Once she saw me, she came to me quickly.

“Hey little bro, how’s this bag? Don’t you think it’s pretty?”

“Yeah, it looks good.”

“Yeah, right? I spent a lot of money on it because I want to carry it on this coming Saint Euroa Day.

She looked so happy. I headed to the fridge to get some drinks.

“But actually, isn’t the stuff made in Kronos, the Sky City better?

“Not at all~ Kronos stuff is not stylish. Clothes and bags made by humans are the best.”

“Really?”

Once I opened the fridge door, I found out there’s nothing inside. I went to the grocery a few days ago and the fridge was already empty. In fact, there were two gluttons in this house so obviously, we always ran short of food.

“Hey sis, why is the fridge empty?”

“······.”

She didn’t reply and just ran away by using Teleportation Magic because she didn’t want to run errands.

I couldn’t understand her at all. Going to the grocery was also shopping just like buying clothes and bags. Yet, she hated going to the grocery and loved buying clothes and bags.

So, I picked up my grocery bag. To be honest, I loved going to the grocery. I felt a lot of joy whenever I saw well-baked pieces of bread and thickly-sliced meat.

First, I stopped by my favorite butcher shop nearby. I liked this place because the owner’s daughter, who helped her dad business sometimes, was pretty. But unfortunately, she was not working today.

“Beef is 85 riffs of bronze and lamb is 52 riffs.”

I was shocked once I heard the price. Even a few days ago, the same amount of beef was 82 riffs of bronze and lamb was 49 riffs. The price of beef and lamb went up by 3 riffs in just a few days. It also happened last time. I had no idea why meat prices kept spiking up.

“Hey, boss, why the hell meat prices keep going up?”

He made an embarrassed face.

“Well, the suppliers keep charging more so I am really having a difficult time too.”

“Has some kind of livestock epidemic erupted recently?”

“No. There’s no epidemic. It’s because of the jerky factory which purchases nearly all the meat in the market.”

Something was strange. Jerky was snack food enjoyed with drinks occasionally and in Kara, it was emergency food for merchants trading across the Great Desert. Unless the trade-in Kara skyrocketed recently, there was no reason to increase the jerky production significantly.

I looked at the display stand again. Since he talked about jerky, I started craving for it. Actually, jerky was one of the best snacks.

But I couldn’t see any jerky. I saw it before but not now.

“Hey boss, you don’t sell jerky nowadays?”

He waved his hand many times as if I was asking for something unobtainable.

“You can’t get jerky from anywhere. Even suppliers don’t have any jerky.”

“How come? You’ve just said that meat prices went up a lot because jerky production has spiked. Then there should be a lot of jerky in the market.”

“No, it’s the opposite. There’s no jerky in the market so they’re making more jerky and thus meat prices are spiking as well.”

“Hmm… I think it makes sense… Then perhaps?”

Suddenly, I opened my eyes sharply because something came up in my mind. If jerky production was very high without any particular reason and still there’s no jerky in the market, then somebody must be stockpiling jerky in a huge amount.

I paid for meat quickly and headed to a weapons store on the workshop street nearby. It’s the store where they sold all sorts of weapons to mercenary soldiers. Of course, arrows were one of the items they sold here.

“Arrows? I haven’t seen them for a while. Strangely, the arrow price is spiking recently.”

“Just as I thought…”

“Why are you looking for arrows?”

“Not a big deal. I just wanted to buy a few but if you don’t have them, it’s fine.”

As I left the weapons store, I chuckled.

The most important supplies in war were food. Soldiers had to eat before they could go to battles. So, when war broke out, food prices spiked up. And especially prices of processed meat with a long shelf life such as jerky skyrocketed. 

And there was something in shortage more than anything during war. It’s the arrow. I had been in many battles so I learned that there’s always not enough arrows when needed the most.

So, food and arrow prices skyrocketed right now. Unless someone’s stockpiling military supplies, it could never happen.

‘Who is stockpiling?’

Clearly, it was not Kara. If someone in Kara found out that a war was imminent, the rumor would’ve already spread out. But nobody was talking about any rumors like that. Also, according to memories of my past life, Kara would find out around the second half of the next summer about the war against the Kingdom of Robros.

Dammit. I should’ve stockpiled these supplies.

* * *

‘Who’s that?’

On my back to home, I stopped at a quiet alley.

A blonde and skinny man in simple clothing was lying on the ground. He was too skinny. His eyes were not vivid at all and his skin looked so dry as if he starved to death. 

At first, I thought he was a beggar but that’s not true. A magic sword engraved with quite a fancy skeleton design was in his waist and the aura around his body was not normal. Overall, he looked like a sharp and strong sword.

‘He seems a pretty strong guy…’

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I recalled the conversation I had with Zenbe before. He said there’s another Master Swordsman in Kara. I had been curious who he was. And that skinny guy seemed to be the one.

‘He is an idiot. How could a Master Swordsman live like that in Kara? If he doesn’t have any money, he should make some even by working as a mercenary soldier.’

While shaking my head, I passed by him and threw a silver coin in front of him. 

Soon, I could hear a dry voice.

“I am not a beggar.”

I snorted and stopped walking. He got some stupid ego for sure. And that’s why he was like that even though he’s a Master Swordsman.

“It was not a handout. I never give something for free to anyone.”

“Why?”

“Because I even killed someone to show my kindness.”

The blonde man picked up the silver coin I threw.

“Then what the hell is this?”

“It is a condolence money. Those who use swords should become at least either robbers or mercenary soldiers before starving to death. Yet, you’re still like that. Thus, it means you would rather starve to death because of your stupid ego. So, I pay for my condolence money. If I just turn a blind eye to a guy like you, I would have bad luck in the future. I already have enough bad luck in my life. So, please take that money and leave me alone.” 

At that moment, his eyes became vivid. Then he chuckled.

“What a weird guy.”

“Yeah. Actually, the whole world is weird.”

He stumbled a little bit and then stood up. He slightly jumped a few times and twisted his body as if he was stretching. 

“By the way, how long have I been lying down?”

“How the hell do I know that? If you’re really hungry right now, then it means that you’ve been here for a pretty long time.”

He put his hand on sunshine shining through the alley.

“Hmm, I can remember that I went outside this morning. So, I guess only a few hours have passed.”

“Hey you, do you have some kind of medical condition?”

“Well… maybe yes. Or no. I would just say sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.”

He kept saying incomprehensible stuff. And I snorted.

“Well, it’s still lucky that you aren’t hostile to other people even though you’re crazy.”

He walked closer to me. Then he stared at my white mask covering the lower part of my face and red-dyed hair one after another.

“White mask? Are you Kaoyan, the White Mask whom people are talking about a lot recently?”

“Yeah. I heard that there’s a rumor about me. So, who are you?”

“Callan.”

I tilted my head on the side. I never heard of a Master Swordsman whose name was Callan.

“What about your last name?”

“I don’t have a last name.”

“Are you a slave or a commoner?”

“Nope.”

“Then why you don’t have a last name?”

“It is a false name anyway. So, why bother to have the last name as well?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“You seem quite strange.”

“Yet, I think I look less strange than you.”

“Well…”

Actually, there were not many people who’re stranger than me. I had a false name. I dyed my hair in a different color. Also, I wore a mask. Since we both looked strange, I could not call him a strange man. So I turned my body around. 

“Ok then. Goodbye.”

“Take this.”

By using his index finger, he threw the silver coin back to me. Then I hit it back to him with the back of my hand.

“I don’t need it. I would rather take back the money I offered to the temple. If I take that coin back, I would be cursed for my entire life.  

“I am not a beggar.”

“I know you’re not a beggar.”

“Oh, you said it’s condolence money. Alright then. I will take your coin even though it’s already late.”

He put the silver coin into his pocket.

“Already late?”

“I almost died recently. That’s why I look like this right now.”

“Haha. What kind of stupid god saved your life?”

“Well, usually he’s not supposed to do such a thing.”

I stared at Callan. According to what Zenbe told me before, the guy knew honor so I thought he would be a stubborn and old man. But surprisingly, this guy didn’t seem like a serious man at all. His voice was low and heavy yet his way of speaking was light.

“You’re different from what people say about you.”

“Do you know me?”

“Yeah, I heard about you from uncle Zenbe.”

“Oh, the owner of that street vendor? He’s Zenbe, the Holy Meteor, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, what did he tell you about me?”

“He said you’re a bland man who knows honor.”

Callan looked up at the sky above the narrow alley.

“Honor? I used to know it.”

“What about now?”

“Now, I am busy pursuing the Great Justice which is the absolute and perfect justice.”

I blinked my eyes several times.

“It’s weird. As far as I know, there’s no such thing as the Great Justice.”

“Hmm… I also thought it was not real but now I know it’s real.”

“What kind of Great Justice?”

“The Great Justice that no one can bear.”

I shook my hand.

“Whatever that is, don’t tell me. It sounds so boring.”

“You’re pretty quick-witted. To be honest, I think it’s better not to know it. Once I found out there’s the Great Justice, my life became much more serious.”

“Then let it go. It’s just an unnecessary burden.”

He made a serious face.

“Once you hear it, you can never let it go.”

“There’s no absolute thing in our world.”

“But you know what? There are exceptions in our world. There’s an exception in the fact that there’s no absolute thing.”

If I had to think of some Great Justice like that, there would be only one kind. I made a subtle smile and slightly wagged my middle finger.

“You mean this? Then I agree with you.”

After he mulled over for a long time, he opened his mouth.

“Hmm… not quite right.”

“Wow. Really?”

I was shocked. What kind of Great Justice could be greater than sex life? I just couldn’t understand. Sex was one of few absolute values for the survival of mankind. If mankind considered it as a sin and people stopped having sex, humanity would fail to survive.

Callan dusted off his clothes.

“Anyways, I am quite busy so I gotta leave now. I will see you later if possible.”

“Whatever.”

“Bye.”

He said a short goodbye and disappeared into a crowded alley. Callan. He’s definitely a strange guy. The way he talked was weird and his look was even weirder. Actually, his look was more like that of a zombie than a human.

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