Salvation Through Delusion C47

Chapter 47

Once I finally ended my “sickbed act” and was free to move around the mansion again, there was one place I went straight to.

“Baron Ewik, has there been any progress in your research?”

I had merely asked a question—yet Silian immediately dropped to her knees. Startled, I hurried to grab her by the arms and pull her up, but she stammered through trembling lips,

“I-I’m sorry… I-I’m so lacking… so incompetent…” 

“I wasn’t blaming you; I was just asking. I’m curious whether cultivating spicy edible crops is possible.”

“Y-Yes… it’s possible… We already have pepper…”

“Not pepper,” I interrupted, shaking my head firmly. “That’s not spicy. Well, yes, it’s technically spicy, but not the kind of heat I mean. That’s just black dust you sprinkle on top of food.”

I waved my hand, dismissing the so-called pepper. Silian drooped her head as though the lack of heat in pepper was somehow her fault.

After reassuring her at least a hundred times that she wasn’t to blame, I was finally able to return to my original question.

“So, sigh… Lantua mentioned you might have found a promising crop?”

“Y-Yes… but it’s p-poisonous…”

“Poison’s fine—as long as it doesn’t kill you after eating it.”

“If you eat too much, it could kill you…”

“Even if it’s boiled? Aren’t the young sprouts less toxic? Or maybe we can soak it in salt?”

“T-That won’t work either, I-I’m afraid…”

“A little poison isn’t a bad thing, honestly—wait, are you crying?”

Why was she suddenly crying? Flustered, I leaned closer, and Silian shook her head with a small sniffle.

“E-Everyone else is afraid of me, but the A-Adeyes… y-you like poisons…”

We didn’t like poison. We were just desperate for chili peppers.

After over a month in this world, my tolerance was reaching its limit. I missed kimchi.

No, I’d take anything with chili in it—even tacos would do.

The fact that Dr. Kim had survived ten years here was starting to feel like a miracle.

I hurried to speak again, trying to distract myself from my cravings.

“Anyway, as long as it’s not lethal, low toxicity is fine—please continue the experiments as fast as possible.”

“M-My apologies…”

Silian shrank back fearfully.

“No, no, I’m not rushing you.”

“L-Lady Lantua also wants progress quickly, but I-I’m not skilled enough… I’m sorry…”

Ah yes. The universal Korean trait: rush everything.

After silently cursing Dr. Kim’s influence, I spent the next ten minutes trying to comfort her. Only after my energy was completely drained did she finally start to relax a little.

“A-All the Adeye people are so kind,” she said softly.

It was a fragile sort of affection born from mutual chili-deprivation. The guilt hit me instantly.

“Nonsense. You’ve been working so hard since you arrived.”

“I-It’s work I enjoy… and the spirit seems happy, too.”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen the poisonous spirit today.

“Where’s the spirit?”

She flinched, stepping back again. Huh?

I didn’t even raise my voice, but she looked like I’d accused her of a crime.

“H-How did you know the spirit isn’t here right now?”

“…I didn’t.”

I lied without hesitation. Luckily, she let out a sigh of relief.

“I-I thought you could see him.”

“Is that… a problem?”

Flinch! Crackle!

It was the biggest reaction I’d ever gotten out of her.

“C-Can you see him?!”

“No, so please stop backing away.”

Still keeping her distance, she spoke cautiously,

“M-My spirit, Lord Uturainu, doesn’t like humans. Especially talking to them. He hates it…”

“Uturainu… wait, you mean Poison-bite—ahem, that’s your spirit?”

She nodded, and I immediately wanted to back away myself.

Did she just say he hates talking to humans? That chatterbox?

“Are you sure? Could it be that you just can’t hear him, so you misunderstood?”

She tilted her head, then shook it.

“According to r-records, every spirit master who faced Lord Uturainu covered their ears in pain. T-That enraged him, so he killed some of them…”

“Killed them? For covering their ears?!”

I was horrified. Silian whispered as if revealing a secret.

“T-That’s why all spirit masters are terrified of him. W-We’re told never to speak to him.”

I had a thousand things to say but swallowed them down.

Of course you shouldn’t talk to him. No human could endure that nightmarish singing voice for even five seconds!

I only ever saw his words converted into text by Mo—but even that pattern of symbols was horrifying enough.

“How did your family manage to keep him as a contracted spirit, then?”

“We c-can’t hear his voice, but we can see faint l-light and movements. From that, we g-guess his mood and try to please him.”

Her voice got smaller and smaller, as though she were ashamed of her limited ability compared to other spirit masters.

But honestly, that delicate empathy was probably what kept her family alive.

To survive alongside the Poison Spirit—that was no small feat.

In Tuvine, most spirit masters had gone extinct. Only the Ewik family, it seemed, had survived—thanks to their gentleness and humility.

“So your ancestors drank poison to match his mood?”

“T-That was just… personal taste.”

My brief admiration for the Ewik family crumbled instantly. They were simply insane.

“Well, it must be hard to gauge a spirit’s mood from just faint light patterns.”

She blushed but continued speaking.

“B-Before disappearing, h-he seemed excited. Like… someone about to visit their hometown.”

Hometown?

That word immediately reminded me of the Diamond. That noisy spirit had also once cried about wanting to go home.

I wondered if it ever made it back safely. Then another memory struck me—something it had screamed right before I lost consciousness.

“I’ll tell Hyuu—something—about you!”

It wasn’t just that one. Other spirits had mentioned telling someone about me too.

“Is there a king of spirits? Someone who rules over them?”

“No.”

Silian shook her head firmly. Really? Spirits had ranks, didn’t they?

“T-They differ in strength, but none rules the others. They’re all f-free.”

“Still, there must be one that’s strongest, right? Stronger than Uturainu?”

“N-No. He’s the strongest.”

“…Who is?”

“L-Lord Uturainu.”

“…”

“The only being mightier than him is… the D-Divine Beast.”

I stopped hearing anything after that. My mind went completely blank as I recalled all the stupid things I’d said to that tiny finger-sized creature.

That thing was the strongest spirit?

Silian went on, unaware of my internal meltdown.

“H-He used to stay in our estate to protect me, so he rarely returned home. But now that I’m safe here, he went back to his homeland. Apparently, there’s a festival—an old friend of his has returned. He seemed excited. Before leaving, he went to find a gift.”

You figured all that out just from his light flickering?!

I wanted to ask, but I knew she’d just apologize for it somehow, so I dropped the subject.

“Don’t you ever want to go home, Baron?”

She shook her head immediately, her expression darkening. Ah, she must have bad memories of her house. I rushed to reassure her.

“You’ll get to go home soon.”

“Gasp! A-Are you t-throwing me out?!”

“No! Absolutely not!” I waved my hands frantically. “I meant you must miss home, that’s all!”

“I-I don’t want to go home… it’s scary there…”

At first, I thought she meant her spouse. But after some coaxing, it turned out she was afraid of the Ewik manor itself.

It was ancient, collapsing, and impossible to repair—because of an old blessing that turned into a curse. They believed that touching the structure would break the protective barrier and bring disaster.

Surely they didn’t mean she couldn’t fix holes in the walls? Apparently, yes. The Ewiks had been cautious cowards for generations, too afraid to even patch a crack.

“But if it leaks when it rains, shouldn’t you fix it?”

“N-No! If you try, the barrier activates and something terrible happens! The only safe place is the secret chamber—but m-my mother never found it… n-neither did my grandfather… or my great-grandmother…”

That wasn’t a secret chamber. That was a trap.

I couldn’t insult her ancestors aloud, so I simply listened. Once she started, she couldn’t stop—pouring out stories and finally tearing up.

“The w-worst part is… it’s freezing in winter…”

She covered her face with her hands. I patted her arm gently and nodded. A drafty house was indeed miserable.

“This winter, stay warm here in the Adeye estate. Forget everything else and focus on your research.”

While I was soothing her—half comfort, half pressure—a maid appeared at the greenhouse entrance.

“Lord Rue, a letter has arrived for you.”

A letter? My attention snapped to her instantly.

“Was it delivered by teleportation?”

“No, by courier.”

Oh. So not Tyroc then.

Relieved, I still kept my guard up all the way back to my room.

Just a few days ago, Tyroc had replied to my letter in under thirty minutes—thirty!

The speed was terrifying. Was this letter correspondence or instant messaging?

And when I opened it, I’d found this:

“With your mouth, huh? Then let’s see if it opens wide enough.”

…What kind of middle-aged man writes that sort of sexual harassment nonsense in a letter?!