Episode 170
Chapter 56: The Sculptor of Chaos (5)
Vishkel’s hand trembled uncontrollably as he pushed aside the bag containing the sweet potato croquettes.
Ah! I want to kill him.
Really, I want to kill this disgusting bastard so badly it’s driving me insane!
Vishkel felt like his head would explode if he didn’t scream those words right now.
“Bubar.”
“Yes?”
“Step outside for a bit. Come back in ten minutes.”
“Why?”
“Just… please. I’m asking you.”
“Uh… okay. Is it because we’re out of milk?”
“AAAAAGH!”
With a crash, Vishkel smashed the table and let out a guttural scream. Bubar hurriedly fled the workshop, even managing to snatch up the fallen sweet potato croquettes on the floor as he left.
‘Wow, Bubar Gaston. Even considering he’s a person infused with the energy of chaos like me, he’s really something else… heh heh.’
Even Yonazo, who had been watching everything through the window since earlier, couldn’t help but sigh at the scene.
Vishkel stormed down to the basement, screaming like a madman for a while. “Damn it! Damn it! Please! Dieee!” His voice, a mix of rage and despair, echoed through the cellar. Meanwhile, Yonazo smiled brightly.
“Phew.”
After a long bout of shouting, Vishkel returned to the first floor and tidied his disheveled hair. Bubar cautiously slipped back into the workshop, with only one sweet potato croquette left.
Hesitantly, Bubar popped the last croquette into his mouth, chewing quietly. Even seeing that, Vishkel no longer felt the urge to lose his temper.
“Feeling any better?”
“…Let’s just get back to what we were talking about earlier, Bubar.”
The conversation they had been avoiding—business that should have been settled long ago if Jin hadn’t shown up.
“Ah, yes.”
“The commander has officially declared the alliance with Jiple broken.”
From the very first words, the news was serious. Yonazo pressed her ear closer to the window.
Normally, she would have kept her distance. Getting even a little closer to an 8-star knight wasn’t easy for her.
But Vishkel was so drained from holding back his temper that his senses were dulled far beyond usual.
“Good! Tell him he did well! Jiple… those bastards are even more evil and vicious than Jin Runkandel. We should have ended things the moment they secretly used the demon stones and damaged them!”
“…It’s not all good news. For our grand plan to proceed smoothly, we still needed their power. From now on, when you craft divine artifacts, the supply of materials won’t be as smooth as before.”
“Ugh! So that’s the problem! But, Vishkel, it’s not crafting—it’s sculpting. Sculpting and crafting are completely different. And it’s not divine artifacts, it’s art pieces. How many times do I have to explain that?”
“Right, sculpting… art pieces…”
Vishkel forced himself to correct his words, barely suppressing his disgust.
“How badly will the supply chain be affected?”
“We won’t be able to get the remains of dead gods anymore. As for relics of ancient civilizations, we’ll only be able to get about half of what we used to before the alliance broke.”
“Hah!”
“However, according to the termination clause, we’re going to retrieve some of the pieces we gave to Jiple.”
“The compass!”
Bubar’s eyes lit up as he shouted.
“We absolutely have to get the compass back! With that, we can easily find living gods and use them as materials.”
“Of course, the compass is part of what we’re reclaiming.”
“Honestly, if we get that back, I don’t care about the rest. The masterpiece of Bubar Gaston, second only to the demon stones! My compass… heh heh. My baby is finally coming home.”
“Bubar, that’s not something to be so happy about.”
“Why not?”
“When Jiple first took the demon stones, the compass, and other pieces from us, how did they act?”
“Extremely submissive. They were practically licking the commander’s toes.”
“But now, just mentioning the termination clause, they’re willing to hand it over without a fight. Don’t you understand what that means?”
“They’ve used it all up…?”
“No. It means they might have already prepared to make their own compass or something similar.”
“No way. It can’t happen without my power.”
“Their magic is beyond what you can imagine. Jiple is a family that wouldn’t be surprised to restore broken demon stones. Besides, the retrieval is scheduled for the first day of June next year. They still have time to research.”
“Why so late? Did the commander really give them that much time?”
“It’s because of the termination clause. Since we brought it up first, they had no grounds to refuse.”
Vishkel lit a cigarette in frustration, and Bubar nodded.
“The first day of June next year… there won’t be any delays, right?”
“The commander personally warned that if they break the promise again, it’ll be all-out war. So no, it won’t be delayed. As long as Runkandel is around, they won’t risk a full-scale war with us.”
“That’s a relief. The first day of June next year… where will we meet?”
“The southern island of the Velado Principality, the land of pirates.”
“Luckily, it’s not a place with disgusting monsters. Please take me with you.”
“Is that necessary?”
“If I’m there, I can immediately check if the pieces are intact. No room for rumors.”
Vishkel’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe Bubar was making such a reasonable request.
“Alright… I’ll tell the commander.”
“Oh, and Vishkel, have you found that one guy yet? The one I sculpted as a Jiple mage.”
“Matto Becker.”
“That’s the name.”
“Because of what happened over there, headquarters is still in chaos…”
Vishkel suddenly stopped talking.
He looked around carefully, then stood up and began checking all the windows around.
‘Heh, as expected. Was I too close?’
Swish…
Yonazo stepped back from the window and quickly hid herself. Even as she ran across the grass, not a single blade bent or broke.
‘Did I sense a faint presence, or was it just my imagination?’
Vishkel went outside and thoroughly searched the ground near the workshop.
The only trace he found was the grass crushed earlier by Jin.
“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden, Vishkel?”
Bubar followed, wobbling slightly and shrugging.
“Nothing.”
“Sometimes you seem a bit paranoid. Marjiela is so optimistic it makes me happy just watching her. How can siblings be so different? Heh heh.”
“…Starting tomorrow, you’ll be moving your quarters. Somewhere Jiple won’t find you.”
“Ugh, that’s annoying!”
Vishkel stared intently at the spot where Yonazo had been. He hadn’t realized she was there, but still.
Meanwhile, Yonazo ran along the forest path, chuckling to herself.
‘I don’t really know what that conversation between the chaotic meatball and the poor paranoid guy was about, but somehow I think the youngest will love it!’
“Oh… my god.”
Jin couldn’t help but gape as Yonazo told her story. Yonazo found it so amusing she kept clutching her belly laughing.
“Is it really that amazing? That expression is hilarious, youngest. You can look that dumb too.”
“It’s packed with the best of the best. Just one day—no, just a few hours of information. Even digging through Runkandel’s top-secret files wouldn’t be this surprising.”
“Really? Tell me everything.”
“Well, what you brought back was about… Oh, but first, a promise. Owl must not know this.”
“Promise!”
Jin spent a while explaining the information she and Kinzel had gathered today, but Yonazo still tilted her head in confusion.
Honestly, the youngest was just so cute mumbling to herself that Jin wasn’t really listening.
“…Now you understand why I was so shocked, right?”
“Yeah, it’s totally hilarious.”
It wasn’t really important to Yonazo. But she was still aware that Bubar Gaston was someone born with ‘chaos’ coursing through him.
“But, sister, what did you mean when you said you and Bubar Gaston are the same kind?”
That question kept nagging at her. The thought that that unpleasant fat guy and her only older sister belonged to the same category!
“Oh, that… I can’t tell you yet.”
“Really? Between us?”
“The youngest has secrets too…”
Whoosh.
Jin gathered spiritual energy in his palm and held it out to Yonazo.
He meant it as a way to say he had no more secrets.
Eek!
Yonazo jumped back as if she’d seen a ghost, as if she’d witnessed something forbidden.
“Huh?”
[Kill him!]
The voice that had been whispering endlessly inside Yonazo’s mind grew louder the moment she faced Jin’s spiritual energy directly.
It was such a powerful voice that she almost reflexively lunged at Jin’s neck with a dagger.
She was born wrapped in chaos far thicker than Bubar’s. Even Bubar wouldn’t react like this when facing spiritual energy.
“Off!”
Jin quickly extinguished the energy. The voice inside Yonazo’s mind faded, and she snapped out of the impulse to kill Jin.
Though the spiritual energy had only lasted two or three seconds in Jin’s palm, Yonazo was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily.
If Jinh sincerely cared for Yona, he probably wouldn’t have been able to resist the will behind her voice.
“Sis!”
“From now on, you absolutely must never use that power in front of me. And please, don’t ask me anything about it.”
“What…?”
Jinh couldn’t help but realize instinctively.
“She clearly stepped back to avoid attacking me. The spiritual energy must have provoked her.”
A few seconds ago, Yona’s eyes had widened as if about to burst, filled with terror—the fear that she might end up killing her own brother.
Suppressing his own bewilderment, Jinh shook his head.
“I don’t know what it is, but I’m sorry. I didn’t expect this.”
“When I see that energy, I lose control. You don’t have to apologize just because I didn’t explain it. Heh, I thought the youngest would keep that power hidden from me at least until he became a Knight…”
“Why me?”
“Because I don’t think I’m the kind of sister you can fully trust? Or maybe because you might end up hating me?”
“The first is completely wrong, and the second is refreshingly honest. Yeah, I did think about hiding it—at least until just before we played together in the flower field.”
He answered casually, but it would be a lie to say he wasn’t unsettled. If Yona had unleashed just a bit more of that energy, she might have killed him.
Still, Jinh had no intention of making Yona feel worse.
“I guess I’ll have to be careful for a while. But once I’m strong enough that no matter what you do, you can’t kill me, it’ll naturally resolve itself. So don’t worry too much.”
“Heh, don’t even dream about that. Now come on, play with me. Like we promised.”
For the next two days, Jinh and Yona roamed all around the Kon Principality, enjoying themselves to the fullest.
And it wasn’t just Joshua’s knights—who had died spying on Jinh in the past—but also Siron’s knights who were always stationed there.
Naturally, news that the two of them were “hanging out together” was bound to reach Siron’s ears.