A young Warrior spoke urgently and anxiously, as if he had missed something important!
“I don’t know such a person… Ah, a party that came in riding a black cow did kill Heretic Hunters and went past.”
“Heretic Hunters!” The other onlookers who had also come asked, “How many were there?”
“11 of them.”
“11 of them! How many minutes did it take to defeat them?”
“Huh, how should I say how long it took… it really happened in a brief moment.”
“Please tell us anyway.”
“Roughly about 2 to 3 minutes?”
“So fast!”
The spectators cheered as they ran off to where Weed and Yellowy had disappeared.
“What was that just now?”
“Maybe… was Weed that Weed? Wargod Weed! He’s hunting in the underground prison!”
* * *
As she breathlessly followed Weed, Da’in was able to feel it.
‘He’s really… grown a lot.’
She had offered to party together with the Sculptor she’d met in Lavias because the sight of him hunting alone without teammates had been pitiful. Despite the limitations to the Sculptor profession, she had been able to feel a strong will from him as he fought monsters with all his might. The Sculptor who had raised his Perseverance by going as far as to take hits from monsters on purpose now wielded Blacksmithing and Tailoring skills. He had made food for her in Lavias as well, but his Cooking skill had also risen to Intermediate in their time apart. He even dragged a bull named Yellowy along with him.
“This slow-witted cow.”
Moooooooooo!
“Yurin, if you have any paint left over, paint him yellow.”
Moooooooooooo!
While they were resting for a bit after repeated battling, the sight of them squabbling with the sculpture lifeform named Yellowy was also cheerful. Yurin and even Hwaryeong played while chiming in.
“Oppa, he’s gonna be eaten anyways, so why dye him?”
“They say the black pigs of Jeju are very nutritious and tasty; just leave him black.”
[T/N: Jeju is Korea’s largest island, known for its tourism, scenery, and apparently its pigs.]
MOOO!
Yellowy wailed sorrowfully and pitifully. However, he wasn’t always treated unkindly. When mealtime rolled around, Weed gave him very nutritious hay, even though there was no knowing when he had gotten it. Yurin fed him herbs that she had on hand, and kind Hwaryeong got water and washed his face and body.
* * *
The second day of hunting in the underground prison!
In the wee hours of the day, when others had gone to sleep, Weed woke up early and was logged in. As he moved deeper into the dungeon and logged off, the spectators weren’t able to follow him any longer. Weed was practicing the handling of a light sculpture using the time away from the people. Da’in had also logged in early, so it was just the two of them.
Weed was silently engrossed in the light sculpture. There was a heavy mood between the two of them.
‘This is a chance to talk with him.’
Da’in started speaking first, with difficulty. “Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
Weed’s response was blunt and rather guarded. He had been the same way when she had met him for the first time in Lavias. He was suspicious from the start, as if wondering if she was going to steal his japtem even though they had simply met by chance in the dungeon.
“What sculpture are you making now?”
Colorful lights matched every movement of Weed’s hand. He wasn’t using just one light, but diverse colors intertwined and mixed as they brought about countless changes. They grew when he flicked his arm, and the lights scattered brilliantly when he bent his wrist.
“It is nothing, just for practice.”
The sculpture Weed was making was gradually taking the form of a person, like a mannequin. Da’in sat still next to him and only spectated the use of light sculpting. Since Weed was trying to make a shape by utilizing strands of light, it was no easy matter. There were countless colors, so it was also try to make them suit each other.
Da’in couldn’t handle the heavy silence that followed the halt in the conversation and spoke up again.
“Is there a girl that you like?”
After asking that, she worried inwardly. She had asked something that she’d always been curious about after seeing that he had made the Goddess Freya Statue in Morata based on Hwaryeong’s face. Da’in hoped that he would say that he still liked her.
Weed shook his head. “There isn’t.”
Stifling her disappointment with effort, Da’in replied, “Ah, is that so. Please excuse me for asking something unnecessary.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Weed absorbed himself in the sculpture again. Though his concentration was strong and he made a sculpture even in his break time, his attitude was strangely different from usual. When there was another person with him, he had never ignored someone who tried to have a conversation. However, distressed by the words Weed had spoken, Da’in didn’t realize that.
‘We’ve already said goodbye once, so it’s fine if he doesn’t like me.’
Da’in contained her pounding heart and spoke up again. “Then… is there a girl you liked in the past?”
Though she sometimes acted une