Salvation Through Delusion C106

Chapter 106

I averted my gaze for a moment, then brushed it off as if it were nothing.

“Why worry about things so far ahead already? There’s a mountain of problems we need to deal with right now.”

“A mountain indeed. I have to send you off to the House of Koon with not a single person of mine by your side.”

I froze halfway through lifting a bite of boneless fried chicken.

“Just me…?”

“Koon contacted us. They said they don’t need a dowry, and your servants are not to accompany you either. Only you.”

So it was a strategy to isolate me. I chewed the savory chicken, my fighting spirit flaring instead.

“I won’t lose in a battle of nerves.”

“That’s the spirit of someone from Incheon.”

She nodded in satisfaction.

“No matter how much Tyroc tries to throw his weight around with his status, do you really think I’d send you into that dangerous place completely alone?”

“But you just said they told me to come alone.”

“Right. Today, you go alone. But I’ll have guards stationed near Koon’s main fortress to support you. It’s called the Acorn Forest—right behind the fortress.”

Acorn Forest. I’d heard of it before from Solongo when she was drafting the dowry list. She’d said it was the item the House of Koon wanted most.

“I’ve also placed an artifact there so you can communicate with me. You’ve seen crystal orbs before, right?”

I nodded immediately. In one corner of her study sat a crystal orb about the size of a bowling ball. I’d once glimpsed her using it to communicate with someone from the merchant guild.

It was similar to a video call, but once used, it couldn’t be activated again for more than half a day. That was why Dr. Kim owned several of them.

“If you need to talk to me, find the largest boulder in the Acorn Forest. There’s a hut in front of it.”

“But how did you even come to own land right behind Koon’s main fortress?”

“I bought it. More precisely, I traded for something Tyroc wanted.”

Perhaps recalling that time fondly, a rare smile appeared on Dr. Kim’s lips.

“A few years ago, I learned that Tyroc was secretly searching for something—an ancient relic. It was a tomb-lamp, about this big.”

She spread her hands to indicate something roughly thirty centimeters long.

“Ah, so you had it?”

“No. But once I heard Tyroc wanted it, I decided to find it first.”

A sense of foreboding crept in at her confidence.

“It was a relic passed down like a legend in a certain region. Supposedly a lamp that revealed the tomb of a hero. The problem was, it was extremely hard to find. There were rumors of a massive gem embedded in it, so people searched for hundreds of years, yet no one even found the tomb’s entrance.”

“How did you find it?”

“With money.”

“…Ah. Of course.”

“Once I got my hands on it, I leaked the information just a little. Tyroc contacted me immediately. He said he’d pay whatever I wanted if I handed over the tomb-lamp. So I demanded a price he’d never agree to.”

She grinned again, the smile of someone who had clearly enjoyed tormenting him.

“The Acorn Forest?”

“Exactly. It’s a forest directly connected to the main fortress. I thought no sane person would ever give that up. But the very next day, he contacted me again. Said he agreed.”

So that was how she got the forest. Just what made that tomb-lamp so important? Either way, it was obvious that this was when Tyroc truly began to hate Dr. Kim. But their feud didn’t end there.

“Once I acquired the Acorn Forest, the first thing I wanted to do was examine the curse of the House of Koon. But that bastard—!”

Dr. Kim’s voice suddenly rose.

“He blocked every single road leading to the Acorn Forest, even sealed off the perimeter! It’s my land, and I still couldn’t enter it! That damned man!”

She was furious, but this time I couldn’t fully take her side. It felt like a clash of equals. Still, I managed to find a flaw in Tyroc’s behavior.

“Couldn’t Tyroc have just tried to buy the land back instead of doing all that…?”

“He did. For a whole year, he kept asking.”

“Ah… then you obviously—”

“Of course I refused! Why would I agree? And after that, he started interfering with my merchant guild’s business at every turn. Rude bastard.”

“And then?”

“So I tormented him even more. Hahaha! Because I’m richer!”

Watching her laugh heartily, I thought how fortunate it was that she was on my side.

“Then that vicious man changed tactics and tried to undermine the authority of the Adeye merchant guild through public opinion. So I had no choice but to sell it to someone no one in the world could ever find.”

“There’s someone like that?”

“Yes. Mr. Kripe.”

“Who’s that?”

“My alias.”

…Fake, even spelled backward. I barely restrained myself from laughing at how blatantly simple the name was, since she was clearly in the middle of boasting.

“So Tyroc not only failed to get the Acorn Forest, but also lost any justification to harass me.”

A victorious smile spread across Dr. Kim’s face. Meanwhile, I finally understood, deep in my bones, why Tyroc had looked like he wanted to kill me when we first met.

“It’s a miracle you haven’t been stabbed to death yet.”

“Do you think I’d hire Tuvine’s best mercenaries for nothing?”

Naturally. I clicked my tongue inwardly, then paused.

“Then if he finds out the owner of the Acorn Forest is still you, Dr. Kim…”

“Your life—as a fellow Adeye—will be in danger.”

“…Right.”

“So when you go into the Acorn Forest, be careful not to tip him off.”

“….”

“Oh, and since all entrances to the Acorn Forest are sealed, you’ll probably have to go through the main fortress. Figure out the route yourself.”

“Didn’t you say Koon’s main fortress is cursed?”

“You said you can see through black magic, didn’t you? Just avoid a curse like that.”

I really wanted to curse Dr. Kim instead. Honestly, I’d rather not need any guards at all and never go near the Acorn Forest. Before I could voice that thought, Dr. Kim excitedly began explaining where the guards were stationed.

“Find the biggest boulder. There’s an abandoned ranger’s hut beside it.”

At this point, I grew curious about the guard staying in the Acorn Forest.

“You said no one can enter. Then who’s the guard?”

“Black Bear.”

Ah. That person. I’d heard briefly about her from Solongo while I was recovering after returning from Borhumi. She was the one who had safely brought me home after I collapsed and eliminated the monsters.

You shouldn’t judge people by appearances, but she had looked like an ordinary middle-aged woman.

“Who exactly is she? Does she not have a name? Is she really that skilled? Was she the one who dealt with the monsters back then?”

“If you’re curious, find out yourself. I can’t give you information about Black Bear first. That’s part of the contract.”

The way she said it made Black Bear sound like some legendary figure. And the fact that she was assigning someone like that to me made the weight of her concern settle heavily on my chest.

“I’ll do well enough that I won’t need to rely on the guard.”

Dr. Kim looked at me quietly, then wordlessly pushed more pickled radish toward me.

“Eat a lot.”

“Yes.”

I answered brightly and put the radish in my mouth. The more I chewed, the more impressed I became.

“This really tastes exactly like chicken radish.”

Especially since it was diced into cubes.

“I didn’t have time today, so I used boneless chicken. Next time, I’ll fry drumsticks.”

“Yes. With chicken sauce, it’d be perfect—damn this cursed land.”

As I slumped at the thoughtless hope that could never be fulfilled, Dr. Kim nodded in deep agreement.

“No wonder monsters crawl out of the ground here. If there were chili peppers, why would such horrors even exist?”

Once a renowned scholar in our original world, Dr. Kim had, after ten years in Tuvine, become a professor of absolute nonsense.

“Seriously, doesn’t it make no sense that there are no chili peppers? Are you sure you searched everywhere?”

“I did. Pretty much everywhere.”

With money, naturally—wait.

“What about around Koon Castle? The Acorn Forest?”

“I couldn’t get in there—!”

Crash!

Dr. Kim shoved her chair back and stood up, barking an order at me.

“Leave immediately! Go to Koon, now!”

Rick had been a little tense on the way to Adeye. Since the two families were now tied by marriage, there was no need to stay openly hostile, but lingering resentment didn’t disappear overnight.

Tyroc seemed much the same—he wasn’t even offered tea, instead standing outside the estate. Still, wasn’t it rude to keep guests waiting this long? Just how long were those siblings going to say goodbye?

“I didn’t know the Adeye siblings were this close.”

Indeed. Lantua was holding Rue’s hands tightly, speaking softly like a parent giving final advice to a child, while Rue obediently nodded along.

“Anyone would think the Adeye family head was his older sister.”

Once again, Tyroc gave no response. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t paying attention.

He was watching the two of them from afar—staring at Lantua with killing intent.

Rick understood. Tyroc had plenty of unresolved resentment toward her. Their alliance was purely strategic, and grudges didn’t vanish so easily. At this very moment, Tyroc was probably thinking about the Acorn Forest—

“Why does her gaze feel indecent?”

A low note of displeasure slipped from Tyroc’s lips. Rick froze, completely unprepared for that reason.