Episode 138: Our Lucy has changed
“You. That’s not an ordinary skill. What’s your real identity?”
“…”
Portia persistently chased after us afterward.
Even while we were looking for Gena through the missing persons board and the Adventurer’s Guild counter.
Even when we entered a pasta shop in the commercial district to fill our empty stomachs.
Even when, at Lucy’s earnest request, we broke away some time to distribute pasta to the slum children.
“You. I’ve seen you before. Your name… it’s surely… Blood-soaked Moonshadow. You recently forfeited against a lower-ranked opponent, right?”
“Judging by how quickly you recognized me, you must know a lot about the Cavaliers’ composition, don’t you?”
“Asserting your right to remain silent? Unless… you’re my fan or… no, it must be that you have some unspeakable secret, right?”
Continuously. She followed closely behind while relentlessly pestering us with chatter.
Yeah. I get that you’re on a secret mission and are sensitive about it, but why are you muttering to yourself while intensifying your suspicious gaze? What have I done wrong?
“Man, hey. How old are you to keep speaking so informally since earlier?”
I soon changed my mental strategy. From now on, if you provoke me, I’ll retaliate.
The first step in this policy was to sort out the Korean hierarchical formalities, but Portia hesitated, then cautiously replied.
“I don’t know why you’re asking my age, but… I’m twenty-seven this year.”
“…”
“Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?”
“It’s nothing..”
“…”
Ironically, this is exactly what “self-inflicted wounds” refers to.
Weird. Believing she would have a face that would blatantly violate the juvenile protection laws, I attacked preemptively. But this level of “young-looking”? It’s unreal. It’s the world’s strongest case of looking younger.
While I was grumbling under my breath inside my mask, Portia suddenly overtook me, blocking our path.
“Answer my question, Blood-soaked Moonshadow. By disobeying orders in Crossfade as a Cavalier, do you want to end up in jail?”
“…”
“Or… are you ignoring me because you think I’m just some nameless knight?”
We stood in tense standoff for a while.
While cautiously assessing the situation, Seseona whispered softly in my ear.
“Ah, Mr. Jung Yong. I know you’re bothered, but why don’t you try talking to her? She might know something about Ms. Gena’s whereabouts.”
“…”
Indeed, Seseona is like a robot, always saying the right things at the right times. Being with her would surely prevent me from ever developing decision-making paralysis.
After much reluctance, I finally nodded, then removed my Black Wing Mask.
“Call me Park Jeong-yong. Frankly, I don’t like that nickname ‘Blood-soaked Moonshadow’ either.”
“Oh, that… okay, I understand.”
After tossing off my hood, the suffocating feeling completely disappeared.
With a clearer view, I calmly looked at Portia. Obviously startled by the sudden reveal, Portia clearly appeared flustered.
“Follow along, let’s walk a bit.”
My group pushed through the crowd toward the residential district, and after standing dumbfounded for a while, Portia finally rushed to catch up.
‘Rather conveniently. I had to warn Cassas’ apostles anyway.’
While warning her, though I don’t expect much, still… in accordance with what Seseona said, I might as well interrogate her about Gena.
I subtly curled the corner of my mouth into a slight smile, unbeknownst to Portia.
*
After a short conversation while walking through the residential area and the slums,
Frankly speaking, Portia was utterly useless.
‘Completely pointless. Tch.’
She doesn’t know Gena or Zenon. Apparently, she has never even seen the red-haired elven girl.
After finishing her own match, she came to the residential area for a rest, where she coincidentally detected and handled the demon king summoning. That’s all there is to it.
‘If I learned anything… it’s the reason why this woman is called a Nameless Knight.’
Instead, I gained some trivial knowledge about the Cavaliers system.
If a Cavalier dies prematurely during their four-year term, one of the 100 reserve Cavaliers chosen at the previous Adventurer’s Tournament will fill the vacancy in order of merit.
However, until they can prove their mettle at the next tournament, those new Cavaliers use the common alias “Nameless Knight” until that time.
‘The deceased Cavalier was the Knight of the Cuckoo, her name was Pang Wolhee. A 34-year-old female warrior who came from the martial arts world.’
The Cuckoo was killed defending the Blue Flame Cave last year. Portia is the reserve knight who took her place. Portia’s fan was also the weapon used by the Knight of the Cuckoo.
Portia revered the Knight of the Cuckoo, using her as a model to become stronger, aiming for the Cavaliers. Ironically, the death of the Knight of the Cuckoo made Portia an official Cavalier.
Regardless of her backstory, this information was irrelevant to my current situation. It was unnecessary excessive information (TMI).
“Sorry to disappoint, Jeong-yong.”
“No problem, miss. I wasn’t expecting much from the start.”
“Your words make me feel even worse…”
“Don’t misinterpret this as an act of kindness. Please don’t.”
We ended the conversation casually while leaning against the side of a back alley.
With a wry smile, Portia straightened up and started to walk out of the alley.
“While I don’t entirely trust your information, since you know quite a lot about witch hunters, and also since you’re an acquaintance of the knight from Adeang… I’ll keep it in mind.”
This was her last remark. It was regarding the apostles of Cassas that I mentioned. The name Adeang seemed to have some effect in conveying the urgency convincingly.
I smirked meaningfully at Portia’s back and gave a half-hearted wave.
“Cassas’ apostles… hmm.”
Portia muttered to herself as she disappeared from sight. I smacked my lips and redirected my gaze forward.
And then, right in front of me…
“Ho ho ho! This humble body shall be your daily bread! Eat heartily!”
There was Lucy, distributing the pasta she had packed up a while ago to the slum children.
She’s showing off with the pasta that I paid for. It seems ‘the bear performs the trick but the monkey gets the applause.’
“These are from Number 1 Hans Pasta! It’s really expensive, you know…!”
“Wow! Sister Lucy, can we really eat this?”
“Uh, are you making fun of us?!”
I could see a few familiar faces among the kids.
Most of them were from the previous incident where they teased us while we were homeless and later befriended Lucy when she got upset.
“Sis!”
“I’m dying!”
“Really? Can we eat it?”
The slum children looked up at Lucy with bright, hopeful eyes.
It seems in our last game the kids lost, but used the excuse “we lost because we were hungry.” Now it seems Lucy, feeling guilty about winning, is compensating like this.
“Wah! Sister is the best!!”
“Thank you, sister!”
“Wow, this is my first time eating this!”
The slum kids hastily and hungrily devoured the pasta. Their faces were filled with the happiness of having everything they could want. They looked like they were willing to trade their souls for this.
While the kids were swarming around her, drunk with pride, I casually glanced at Lucy’s face.
“…”
Lucy’s expression was more complicated than expected. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her expression was a mix of sadness and joy.
Her crimson eyes lost focus, so I couldn’t quite tell what she was thinking.
“Sis! Let’s play again next time!”
“Thank you, sis!”
“Take care, sis! Please come again!”
We waited until the kids finished their pasta before parting ways. Even as we were about to leave their line of sight, they continued to wave at us.
Originally, the deal was to give the pasta and immediately set off to find Gena, but when Lucy, with her subtle expression, asked us to wait, it was hard to refuse.
As a result, we ended up wasting quite a bit of time. The sun was already beginning to set.
“…”
Lucy remained silent throughout the journey back. She seemed lost in thought. Perhaps she was reminiscing about the children’s happy faces from earlier. Surely not. That wouldn’t be like Lucy.
The atmosphere becoming too downcast, I began to tease her, injecting a good dose of sarcasm.
“Why? Did seeing them make you repent and seek the light? Do you feel like the you from 30 years ago was such a bastard?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“…”
“What?”
Her head turned sharply toward me like a bullet.
Thinking I might have misheard, I asked her again.
“Did you just say ‘uh, yeah’?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Affirmed?
No, seriously. Did you really just reflect on your past over that?
While I’m standing there dumbfounded like a honey-eating bear, Lucy muttered instead.
“The humans I fought and killed. Every human in the cities I destroyed. They all must have had families, huh? Likely ended up just like those kids.”
“…”
“Huh, maybe if no one brought them food like you do, they would have starved to death a long time ago. The kids here will likely meet our Lord soon, one by one.”
After I added that note, Lucy’s eyes widened.
Her face showed a flicker of shock for a while then settled into a bitter smile.
“Never imagined that. No, I suppose I never gave it any thought back then. There was no way for me to understand human biology. I didn’t know they weren’t created lives like us.”
Lucy then ran her fingertips through her long, white hair.
She soon frowned deeply and continued.
“Guilt is overwhelming me. For the lives lost because of me and for the families left behind.”
“…”
“Yeah. Back then, I couldn’t comprehend it at all. The death of another demon king didn’t really affect me. But humans always tried to kill me when someone else died. That just irritated me.”
“…”
“Now I understand. If those kids were to die, I’d be furious. Probably more furious than if someone were to harm me. So this is why humans fought me even knowing they would likely die.”
What… No, really, what is this?
The immortal Demon King simply reformed with ease.
