Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Using the North Wind to gather information, Nina ran around the Violet Forest, collecting plants.
"How do you even find this stuff?" Jin asked, constantly marveling as he hung the collection bag on the horse.
The two of them went deeper and deeper into the forest.
Passing through the sealed Barrier and going further inside, the atmosphere completely changed.
As evening came and they set up camp, the sun quickly set.
"I've never been past here before."
Jin said, throwing firewood into the campfire. Sparks flew up into the sky in countless numbers.
A tin kettle hung over the campfire.
"Yeah, but there's something you can only find if you go inside."
At Nina's words, Jin stared at her, saying, "That's true, but..."
His cat-like green eyes sparkled in the light of the campfire.
"Did you hear it from a Spirit?"
"Huh?"
"This kind of information, I mean. Finding plants and herbs, too."
"Yeah, Kirill asked me to, and I heard some from a Spirit, too."
Nina said vaguely. As she took down the steaming tin kettle with a branch, Jin asked.
"Can't you teach me too?"
"Huh? Teach you what?"
"Swordsmanship."
"Swordsmanship? Me? Teach Jin?"
"Yeah. You've improved so much. I can't even beat you now. You're probably the strongest among us right now."
Even a layman could tell how excellent Nina was as a swordsman.
There was no excess in her swordsmanship. Her sword was connected to her fingertips as naturally as her limbs.
"You're the captain. Please give me your teachings."
He said, handing a cup to Nina. Nina took the cup and replied.
"But I use a sword, and Jin uses a Glaive, right?"
The Glaive, a combination of an axe and a spear, was Jin's main weapon.
Seeing the huge man wield the heavy Glaive with ease always made her admire him.
"Isn't the basics the same?"
"Well..."
Nina stopped talking and shut her mouth. Come to think of it, she had learned how to use the Glaive from Tae Yang.
'He said it's good to know how to handle all weapons roughly.'
Was this the big picture for that?
Nina said playfully.
"But can Jin endure my training?"
"Of course! I'll do anything if it makes me stronger. Back then... if I had been stronger back then..."
Jin frowned and said as if spitting out blood. Nina was surprised by his more intense reaction than she had expected, and her eyes widened.
"Jin? Are you okay?"
"Nina."
"Yeah?"
"You're important to me. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be a drunken bum wallowing in despair, getting stabbed in some corner and dying."
"Isn't that a bit extreme?"
"Really. I..."
Jin frowned and swallowed his words. In the darkness, perhaps his heart had been somewhat relieved by the few days of adventure with just the two of them.
"You know I'm the second son of the Merchant Guild, right?"
"Yeah, I heard."
"My family were the kind of people who thought they could buy anything with money."
Nina tilted her head. Jin chuckled at her reaction.
"Love, loyalty, faith, even life itself. Everything can be bought with money. So people without money have no value, and there's no need to uphold morality to make money. Money is everything."
They would do anything for money, and they wouldn't do anything if it didn't involve money.
Wasting money in useless places was the same. So his family was involved in loan sharking and slave trading.
"I ran away from home because I hated that and became a mercenary, but I got into debt because I wrongly guaranteed a loan for a friend I trusted."
"So you joined the Jet-Black Knights? Because they pay well."
At Nina's words, Jin nodded. She briefly thought it was fortunate that she didn't nag him, saying, 'Why would you guarantee something like that?'
"But as I was a mercenary and in the Knights, it really felt like money was everything. Really. The faith, friendship, and love I thought I had were all just shallow fantasies of the weak."
Jin grinned.
"I got sick of it. I really got sick of it, and I couldn't sleep without drinking. But..."
Jin stared at Nina. His green eyes were without a single shadow.
Nina, always thinking that they contrasted with the Young Master's shadowy lake-like eyes, opened her mouth and said, "Me?"
"Yeah, you."
Jin smiled.
"You came and showed me that what I believed wasn't wrong."
"I didn't really do anything."
Nina said with a sullen face, and Jin shook his head.
"No, you've done a lot for me. But..."
Jin narrowed his eyes, cutting off his words.
"Do you know how I felt when I had to leave you to die and run away?"
"Um..."
"You don't know, and you shouldn't know."
"Yes, I don't know."
She was confident even as she lowered her head.
Jin sighed heavily and said.
"I don't want that to happen again. I want to be strong enough to fight back-to-back with you. So I've been trying, but... looking at you now, this isn't it."
There's a limit to the difference in skill.
"Jin."
Nina grinned.
"I really like Jin."
"That's really out of the blue."
Nina laughed again at Jin's words.
She liked his honesty and his sudden outbursts.
Some might think this kind of confession is too sudden, heavy, and why are you saying this? But not Jin and Nina.
Jin, who was much older than her, had been speaking frankly from the beginning, and he didn't hide or conceal anything from the young her.
"I like that you're honest."
"Can you say the same about yourself?"
Nina nodded at Jin's words.
"That's right, I'm an honest person too. Being truthful is a value that should be greatly recognized."
"So, will you teach me?"
Jin turned the conversation back to the topic that kept drifting away. Nina erased her smile and replied.
"Alright, then I'll work you hard."
"Huh?"
"To think you were so determined. I'll teach you thoroughly."
She would pass on the hellish training she had received from Tae Yang to Jin as well.
Nina said firmly, "Don't worry, I'll steel my heart and never weaken," reassuring him.
Jin also nodded and chimed in, "Yeah, yeah!" He would regret that agreement the moment the training started.
\ \ *
Early the next morning, as they went deeper into the Violet Forest, rough terrain appeared.
Valleys flowed between cliffs, and steep mountains continued.
There, Nina and Jin found a Unicorn.
Looking up at them, Jin marveled.
"It's really a Unicorn? It's running around the cliffs like a mountain goat. How is that possible with that body?"
"We're going to catch it."
At Nina's words, Jin asked, "What?" Nina grinned.
"It's a horse fit for the Jet-Black Knights. Especially that one, that one."
Nina pointed to the leader of the herd, who was the largest and most beautiful one at first glance.
"How are you going to catch it?"
"Well, it's the same as a wild horse. Don't worry."
Nina said, taking off her luggage and entrusting it to Jin.
"Then I'll be back. Don't worry if I don't come back for a day or two."
She made a loop with a rope.
"What? Hey, what are you going to do?"
"I am blessed by the North Wind. Silent wings, push me forward."
Following the incantation, Nina's movement speed increased. By the time the Unicorn herd noticed her, she had already approached the leader.
While the Unicorn herd was avoiding Nina, unsure of what to do, she quickly jumped onto the leader's back.
At the same time, she put the loop around its neck and pulled it tight. It was a lightning-fast movement.
Jin gasped.
The leader Unicorn really started running like crazy. It was a movement that should have made anything riding on it fall off.
But when Nina didn't fall off, it started jumping up and down and ran straight down the cliff. It was a struggle to shake her off by any means.
Its feet were so fast that it quickly disappeared from sight. Jin groaned, "Oh my god."
'It'll be okay.'
Because it's Nina.
Even if she falls, the North Wind will support her. Jin scratched his head and looked for a place to camp nearby and set up camp.
