Chapter 334
Episode 104. Debt, Debt, and More Debt (1)
“I will definitely come back…”
But the moment Jin stepped out of Young-gi’s pocket dimension, those words felt hollow and meaningless.
He forgot everything he had shared with the living Luet Damiro Yul.
Her appearance, the clothes she wore, her fiery red hair, her voice—everything.
He even forgot that two whole days had passed inside the pocket dimension. That was because the Luet he had met wasn’t the one recorded in history, but the forgotten Luet who had told him about it.
Outside, the beach remained the same—mysterious and lonely, with violet stars twinkling in the sky. Jin stared blankly at those stars for a moment.
“I think I entered the third tomb… and met someone. Or did I? Maybe I just confirmed the old Storm Castle’s state?”
A strange sense of detachment left him unsettled.
“And I didn’t even fight, so why do I feel this nausea? Or did I fight such a fierce battle that my body and memory are messed up?”
It made no sense, yet he felt like he had pushed his body to the limit. Waves of nausea rose from within, a creepy sensation like insects crawling all over his skin, and cold sweat broke out.
He exhaled deeply.
Trying to steady his breath, Jin recalled what had happened inside the pocket dimension.
“The inside seemed like a recreation of the old Storm Castle, and as always, I checked the recording device.”
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember how he had accessed the device.
It felt like someone had handed it to him, or maybe he had opened a small box to find it, or perhaps it had activated automatically the moment he entered the tomb.
“Neru said there was definitely someone inside. He told me to tell him that he’d endured a lot over the past thousand years.”
Who was that person? Was he not there?
Questions piled up, and the faces of old Runcandel from the recording device flashed through his mind.
Temar, steward Luet Damiro Yul, the teenage knights, the gaunt-faced stewards and scribes recording the fading history of the elf tribe…
Among them, strangely enough,
Thinking of Luet Damiro Yul made Jin’s chest tighten. Even though he had never met her, a bittersweet longing welled up inside him.
He only remembered the Luet from the records.
“Ah!”
Recalling old Runcandel from the recording device, a forgotten problem suddenly came to mind.
“The small beastfolk! I have to go save them quickly!”
From somewhere,
A foreboding smell of smoke drifted in. It was a scent he hadn’t noticed when he first entered this beautiful space of the Myoin tribe.
It wasn’t the smell of a fire lit for cooking or warmth.
Jin whipped his head around and swallowed hard.
The forest behind the beach was burning.
This mystical beach, which no human had ever entered except Jin, was being consumed by flames.
His heart raced. Now that he thought about it, even though he had left the pocket dimension, Neru of the Myoin tribe was nowhere to be seen.
“Neru!”
Just as he shouted and prepared to run, he spotted Neru in the distance.
“Neru, are you okay?”
[Ugh… Jin, Runcandel.]
Neru was panting, his fur soaked with sweat. There were no visible injuries.
“Have you already been attacked?”
[…Not long after you entered Temar’s tomb, this place was discovered.]
It had been less than five hours since Jin had entered the tomb.
The secret refuge had been under attack ever since, and Neru and the Myoin tribe were desperately defending themselves with all their might.
Ideally, they should have sensed the danger and fled when they were discovered. In fact, the Myoin had been detecting intense danger for three hours before the enemy’s invasion.
But they couldn’t run.
If they fled, not only would Temar’s tomb be exposed,
But even the Solderet’s thousand-year contract would be at risk. Especially if the tomb collapsed while Jin was inside, he would never be able to escape.
The Myoin had used most of their sacred relics, gifts from the ancient cat god, to block the attack.
They had erected barriers with these relics, which had been guarded for thousands of years, to buy time.
But Neru hadn’t told Jin this. He decided not to burden him with the truth.
“What kind of enemies are they?”
Jin asked quietly.
[Zipl.]
It wasn’t unexpected. He had guessed it would be one of Joshua’s Runcandel, Zipl, or Kinzello.
But that didn’t make it any better.
[…Listen carefully, Jin Runcandel. From now on, run nonstop toward that beach over there. Until you meet Lulu, a Myoin. Then Lulu will take you somewhere safe.]
“You want me to run away alone?”
[It’s the best option.]
“What about Neru, the Myoin, and the small beastfolk? Can they escape after I’m gone?”
Neru didn’t answer.
“Then I’ll buy time. The Myoin should evacuate the small beastfolk.”
[Zipl and his kind have an elite mage unit called the Phantom Corps, like your Black Knights. Five of them attacked us. I know you’re strong, but you can’t buy time against them.]
Phantom Corps.
The moment Jin heard that name, his face hardened.
During his trainee days, he had experienced their terrifying power firsthand.
‘They sent that secret elite unit to capture the Myoin and small beastfolk and attack my business.’
According to Neru’s guess, Zipl’s reason for targeting the small beastfolk was Jin’s cosmetics business.
It was a baffling motive, but at the same time, it showed that Zipl was cunning.
‘Someone must have seen how much influence my cosmetics business could gain among ordinary people in Runcandel. Or…’
They might have discovered the location of Temar’s third tomb.
Either way, the horrifying fact remained: the Phantom Corps had arrived.
[And now, our barrier is at its limit. Two days have already passed since you entered the tomb.]
“Two days?”
Jin’s eyes widened.
He hadn’t expected so much time to have passed.
He couldn’t even properly remember what had happened inside the third tomb, and the fact that two days had slipped by only added to his confusion.
[Yes. We can only hold out for one more hour. No longer. So run now.]
Jin gritted his teeth.
“That’s impossible.”
[If you feel guilty that the small beastfolk might die because of you, we’ll try to save as many as we can. They’re still inside the barrier, so they’re safe for at least one more hour.]
“Tell me where the enemies are.”
[There are several entrances to our secret space besides that cave. The enemies are breaking the barriers at each entrance, but we don’t know exactly which one they’ll come through. But one thing’s certain: all entrances connect to the cave, so they’ll eventually gather there.]
Jin instinctively understood.
Neru and the Myoin were sacrificing themselves to protect the small beastfolk.
He was right.
The Myoin were using their last sacred relic to evacuate the small beastfolk, fully prepared to die in this place.
While Jin was inside the tomb, even that was impossible. If the barrier made from the relics showed even the slightest crack, the enemies could enter the cave through it.
The small beastfolk inside the cave were aware they were under attack. They trembled in terror, suffocating within the barrier that covered the beach and cave.
“Can we save them all?”
[Honestly, I can’t guarantee everyone will survive.]
Just holding out for two days against five Phantom Corps members and still managing to save some of the small beastfolk was already remarkable.
But Jin couldn’t retreat unless he was sure everyone would live.
He hadn’t grown stronger to run away using others as shields.
Of course, he wouldn’t act out of vanity or shallow justice. He wasn’t about to die a meaningless death.
“I’ve already bought time against even larger numbers of the Phantom Corps.”
[If you get hurt, all the thousand-year promises will be for nothing.]
“I’m not fighting just because I hate seeing the small beastfolk die. If I start the battle, my family or Kinzello will send help.”
[How would Runcandel and Kinzello know you’re fighting?]
“I’m the only magic swordsman who uses spirit energy and lightning energy. I’m a Runcandel knight, and the Jan Kingdom is Hupester’s territory. Plus, the beastfolk lands belong to Kinzello. They have every reason to intervene.”
If Jin fought the Phantom Corps near the cave, there would be no reason for Runcandel or Kinzello to stay out of it.
He planned to fight them as spectacularly as possible to draw those two powers into the battle.
“The key is whether I can hold out against all five Phantom Corps members until my family and Kinzello’s forces arrive. While protecting the small beastfolk.”
But if he could hold out, everyone could be saved. No matter how strong Zipl was, he couldn’t run rampant in the middle of two great powers’ territories.
“If my family’s knights come, disguising Bellop will be pointless. I’ve already caused enough trouble during my probation. The disciplinary case that the Homein chairman is holding back will resurface.”
But that was better than all the small beastfolk dying. If luck was on his side, it would just be a minor problem.
[What if Runcandel and Kinzello don’t come to the battlefield?]
“I’ll do whatever it takes to escape and survive. The thousand years so many have sacrificed for me won’t have been in vain.”
[Why are you so determined to stay loyal to the little beastfolk?]
“Once, a spinning top told me this: among the little beastfolk, anyone who earns the favor of the feline tribe is to be welcomed unconditionally, regardless of their reasons or race.”
[That’s just something the little beastfolk made up among themselves…]
“But even before I met Lord Neru, I was always welcomed by the little beastfolk. I owe my life to them, too. That’s why I’m so committed to loyalty. I can’t bear to see the business I just started fail.”
Neru looked up at Jin.
“And as I just said, the Kingdom of Jan is the land of Runcandel. That means it’s my land, too. To run away from here would be to admit I’m unworthy of being a rider of Runcandel.”