Episode 99
Chapter 32: The Battlefield of Cosmos (10)
“Young master! That’s…!”
The moment Veradin pulled the object from his cloak, the guards’ faces turned pale.
Veradin quietly pressed a finger to his lips.
“Silence. And cover us with your cloaks.”
The guards bit their lips but quickly spread their cloaks to shield them from view.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Whispers spread among the spectators, but no one dared shout out or ask what was happening. The reason was the emblem embroidered inside the guards’ cloaks—the symbol of the Ziphl family.
“Ziphl…?”
“That guy’s from Ziphl?”
“Wait, what are you going to do? Didn’t that Ziphl guy curse Paul Mick when he was cheering for Jin Gray?”
“Ah, I think I better leave now.”
As soon as the Ziphl emblem was revealed, even the pirates calmed down like docile sheep. Even Cosmos, the event’s host, widened his eyes but made no move to stop the intrusion.
‘This is bad. Could it be that Paul Mick is actually from Runcandel, and they came to kidnap him…? Damn it, if I get swept up in this, my pirate life is over. I have to be careful!’
Everyone closed their eyes and covered their ears.
Suddenly, Cosmos shouted.
Throughout the event, he had maintained a polite demeanor, addressing everyone as ladies and gentlemen, but now his eyes were fierce and sharp.
It was almost comical how obedient the crowd became, following his command without question. Yet no one smiled.
That was how revered the Ziphl family was to most ordinary people.
“That guy’s sharp. If he’s getting 300,000 gold coins, I think it’s okay to take about 100,000 off the top.”
The object Veradin held looked like a jewel. At first glance, it resembled a round ruby, but it was even redder—like a clump of coagulated blood.
And from that jewel flowed an indescribably strange energy.
‘What is this…?’
Jin had seen something like it somewhere before.
But he couldn’t immediately recall exactly what it was. It wasn’t something he’d seen in person, only something he’d read about in books during his magical studies.
“It’s the Blood of Numerus.”
When Veradin whispered this, Jin’s mouth fell open without him realizing it.
Numerus.
The god of hope, said to have vanished due to a certain incident just before the founding of the kingdom of Vankela.
The legacy Numerus left behind was only eight drops of tears and a hundred drops of blood, but for centuries, humans had waged a foolish, bloody history trying to claim them.
Numerus’s tears were the only thing capable of resurrecting the dead.
Numerus’s blood, while not quite capable of resurrection, was a divine substance that could instantly cure any illness.
Of the eight tears, four had been used and recorded in history, while the whereabouts of the other four were unknown.
Seventy drops of the blood had recorded uses, but the rest were unaccounted for. Historians generally assumed they had all been used, and in recent times, no one had ever found any of Numerus’s blood.
Once a major fascination for the public, these relics of the god had gradually faded into legend.
And now, one of them was glowing red right before Jin’s eyes.
“What…? You’re going to give this to Dante…?”
Even though Numerus’s blood was considered a divine relic of a slightly lower rank than the tears.
It was something that could not be bought with any amount of wealth, and great families like Runcandel and Ziphl were still desperately searching for it.
‘So one of them was in Ziphl’s possession!’
What was even harder for Jin to accept was that it wasn’t held by the family head, Keliak Ziphl, but by Veradin, who was traveling.
In other words, that blood was something Ziphl had prepared solely for Veradin. And even the world’s most prestigious family, Ziphl, only had two drops.
“Shh, so let’s keep this a secret between the three of us. Me, you, and Dante.”
Jin couldn’t bring himself to ask why Veradin intended to use it for Dante.
Logically, Veradin’s actions were utterly irrational. Hailan, though smaller than Runcandel, was still a rival family, and Dante was the heir.
The best outcome for Veradin would have been for Dante to die here.
‘But I’m no different. Even though Dante’s death would benefit Runcandel, I held back my sword at the last moment.’
Veradin smiled.
“I think you understand why I’m doing this without me having to explain.”
Bringing the Blood of Numerus to Dante’s lips, Veradin used magic to gently crack its surface. The red energy flowed like water into Dante’s mouth.
Ssshhh…
“And don’t thank me. Losing a rival is just as sad as losing a friend, isn’t it?”
A shudder.
Dante reacted the moment the blood entered him. Though no one could see what was happening inside his body, his pale face quickly regained color and vitality.
‘Veradin Ziphl… I knew he wasn’t an ordinary fool.’
He was the kind of person you couldn’t easily judge—willing to pay such a price for someone who was practically an enemy.
Amid the tangled emotions, one feeling was clear.
‘He’s got his cool moments.’
Pffft!
Dante exhaled roughly, as if surfacing from underwater. Just waking up, he seemed to immediately realize he had cheated death, checking his body several times with a look of astonishment.
“How on earth did this happen…?”
“After the ceremony, buy me a drink, Dante. Jin, you’re coming too, no excuses. And from now on, whether at a banquet or anywhere else, I want you to acknowledge me when you see me.”
Jin chuckled, recalling the day at the Runcandel banquet when he had found Veradin annoying.
“Will do.”
As Dante slowly got to his feet, Cosmos quickly glanced around, sensing the situation had settled. He thought about what these three boys needed most right now.
An atmosphere that nothing had happened.
In truth, no one in the crowd had seen exactly what had transpired under the cloaks. They only guessed that Veradin had used magic to heal Dante.
But everyone wondered why Ziphl would heal Paul Mick, who was rumored to be from Runcandel. No one was foolish enough to voice their curiosity loudly, though.
“Ladies and gentlemen! What a thrilling match! The winner is the unknown young swordsman, Jin Gray! Please give them a warm round of applause!”
The awards ceremony began at night.
At the battlefield, where murder and intrigue had run rampant, a rum party was underway. The survivors poured liquor onto the ground in memory of the fallen whenever they had a chance.
The closing party, usually the highlight of the battlefield, was known for all kinds of indulgences besides drinking.
But everyone was too wary of Ziphl to do anything but drink.
“The winner, Jin Gray, please come forward!”
Jin stepped onto a platform made of stacked bottles.
Waiting there was Cosmos, holding a trophy carved from shark bone and a sack containing a thousand gold coins.
At Cosmos’s feet was a small treasure chest—an optional prize.
Jin could choose either the thousand gold coins or the treasure chest, contents unknown.
“Choose your prize! Gold coins or the treasure chest…”
“Give me both.”
Jin’s irritated reply sparked laughter all around.
He wasn’t the first winner to demand both prizes, but no one had ever been this bold about it.
‘The first few days I barely slept, and when I fought Dante, I almost killed him. After risking my life, it’s annoying to be told to pick just one reward.’
It was unacceptable.
Thinking back to how his heart had wavered when Dante was in danger, Jin felt he deserved even more than the entire Cosmos pirate crew.
“I get that you want it all, but haha, kid, we have history and tradition, you know?”
“I can erase all that history and tradition starting today.”
Cosmos nodded with a sullen expression.
“Fine, fine. Take it all…”
By then, Cosmos, the crowd, and even Jin himself suspected that, while not as prominent as Dante or Veradin, Jin was from a notable family. Cosmos’s compliance was because of that.
‘This kid might be from the Bikyung clan… Hah, from next year on, I’ll have to be more careful about the backgrounds of participants. I want only those I can control at the bottom.’
After the ceremony ended.
While everyone else continued drinking in the center of the arena, Jin and Dante settled into the cramped, shabby room they had shared.
Veradin, who had left his guards behind, was with them.
“Wow… You two lived here for days? No way I could last even one day. Our family’s stables are better than this.”
Veradin opened a bottle of the finest wine he had his guards bring.
Glasses were filled one by one, and Jin handed the sack of gold coins to Dante.
“You’re giving this to me?”
“Yeah, you take it.”
“You won the tournament.”
“If you don’t want it, fine.”
Dante stared at the sack silently, then shook his head.
“No, I’m taking it. Our Hiran family has plenty of gold coins, but this—I’ll have to frame it and keep it as a memento.”
Dante shook the pouch of gold coins with a pleased jingle.
Seeing that, Veradin licked his lips with a hint of regret.
“Jin, me too. Give me one, something to remember this day by. Today was special for me as well.”
Veradin’s eyes sparkled as he reached out his hand.
Celebrate on your own, Jin thought.
Normally, he would have said that, but Veradin had done something particularly admirable this time. Granting such a small favor didn’t seem unreasonable.
Still, Jin wanted to keep the shark bone plaque with his name on it as his own keepsake.
That left the treasure chest.
Jin’s eyes lit up as a good idea struck him, and he nodded.
“Wait a moment.”
Click!
With a twist of his strength, Jin forced the lock open. It was the first time since receiving it from Cosmos that he’d opened the chest.
‘Paper?’
Inside was a roughly drawn map, with an X marked near the center—a classic treasure map.
“Huh? There’s ancient writing here. I’ve never seen these characters before. This is intriguing. You want to give me this map as a souvenir…?”
“No, your souvenir is this chest. Take it.”
“Oh, that’s even better! Thanks!”
‘One guy wants to frame the gold coins, and the other’s grateful for trash. Are these two idiots or what?’
The thought made Jin chuckle softly. As he laughed, the others joined in. But then Jin suddenly wiped the smile off his face and grew serious, causing the two to clear their throats awkwardly.
“Hey, Dante Hiran. Let me ask you something.”
“Uh, hmm. What’s on your mind?”
“Why didn’t you use your secret technique to the end? I clearly told you not to hold back.”
Dante scratched the back of his head and replied,
“You… also didn’t unleash your hidden power and held back on me. I just thought it would be fair to fight without using secret techniques.”