Chapter 21 - Episode 4. The 1% World (1)
Chapter 21: Episode 4. The 1% World (1)
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「There are worlds that cannot be reached through effort alone.」
- From words left to the craftsmen by 〈Twilight Dusk〉 Deputy Workshop Master Meikal Garnad
* * *
There were strongholds in 《Chaos》 where several Halls or factions gathered to form settlements. The most prominent among them were the Three Palaces and Four Cities.
In particular, the Four Cities that served as the points of reference for the regions of Chaos allowed Adapters to settle within them, so exchanges between Adapters were especially active.
Gorgon Fortress was one of those Four Cities.
...What a shame. He had just wanted to fight him once.
Jaehwan recalled Karlton, silver aura rippling over his shoulders. That bastard had the face of a con artist, yet had rattled off something called Edict from his own mouth.
Jaehwan did not trust those who talked about laws.
There had been many people from the legal profession among the raiders in the Tower of Nightmares where he had once been.
- All humanity within the Tower is equal.
At first, they had made laws for the weak. A world completely cut off from their old society. Perhaps it had been the ideal place to establish laws truly meant for humanity.
They had made many laws, and some had seemed to protect the weak.
It had been an illusion.
By the time people came to their senses, every law had become a law only they understood. People stumbled over laws whose names they did not even know.
Whenever they returned from the hunting grounds, they had to pay excessive taxes. Under the guise of protection, they were allowed to hunt only in controlled areas. Since their growth was limited, they could possess only weak skills and low-level equipment.
So that everyone could be equal, the weak were made equally weak.
The laws flattered the strong, were cruel to the weak, and became endlessly complicated in order to cement the system. When the atmosphere in the Tower had reached its breaking point under the system those laws created, the people who had made the laws disappeared into the past, leaving the laws behind. The lonely laws that no one upheld were abandoned.
After the eighty-fifth floor, Jaehwan had made only one law.
All humans live for today.
That was the only law Jaehwan had believed in and upheld until now.
This damn place was confusing as hell.
Jaehwan frowned at the crowded streets.
On top of that, he had baggage trailing after him.
Mino still had a dazed look in her eyes. She seemed to have enough will to walk, at least. Whenever Jaehwan moved, she staggered after him.
...She had acted like he only needed to trust her.
They probably could not keep traveling together like this.
She was the first human he had met since entering 《Chaos》. He had been glad to see her, but that was all Mino meant to Jaehwan. Considering the road ahead of him, it might be better for her if they parted ways here.
For the time being, Jaehwan decided to wander the streets until Mino regained her senses.
Street stalls sold herbs in strange colors. Equipment merchants displayed elaborate craftsmanship, while food vendors lined the streets with all kinds of things to eat.
Jaehwan walked through those streets with Mino stumbling along beside him.
“I haven’t seen the Fortress Lord around lately.”
“I heard they’ve fallen ill...”
“Hoho.”
The voices and laughter of merchants drifted from all around them. After they passed through the main alley of the vendor district, inn employees were already out in broad daylight, calling for customers.
How much longer had they wandered like that?
At last, Jaehwan had to admit that he was completely lost.
Was it because he had not been somewhere this crowded in a long time? Before he realized it, he had ended up in a back alley behind the market streets.
Deep in the alley, a group that looked like thugs sat together, snorting the “medicine” Mino had taken earlier.
Damn it. Where was this now?
With no other choice, Jaehwan activated 「Doubt」 and 「Understanding」. The voices around him began to take shape as information, piling up one after another in his mind.
Then a problem arose.
He had failed to consider that this was his first time in such a crowded, disorderly place. An overwhelming amount of information rushed in at once, overloading his mind and bringing on a vicious headache.
Then something important brushed against Jaehwan’s senses.
“Hey, are you finally coming to your senses?”
The light was slowly returning to Mino’s eyes.
“...Why am I here?”
“Don’t ask. Just show me the way. My head hurts.”
Mino quickly surveyed the area, got her bearings, and led Jaehwan toward the outer streets.
“Let’s head out that way first.”
Once they left the alleyways, they reached a comparatively quiet area despite it being a main road. Only then did Jaehwan’s headache fade.
“That’s enough. You can go now.”
“Isn’t that too harsh? Throwing me away like that...”
Her memories were slowly returning. What had happened, and why she was here.
Jaehwan spoke indifferently.
“You only get in the way.”
Mino’s face slowly reddened at his firm words.
She remembered what had happened earlier. She had stepped forward confidently, telling him to trust only her, but Jaehwan had ended up solving the problem.
She had excuses. If he had cooperated with her just a little, it would not have happened. If James had not acted differently than usual, if Karlton had not appeared there, and...
“I still...”
She knew all of it was nothing more than excuses. That knowledge only made her feel more miserable.
“I still haven’t repaid the debt I owe you.”
Mino muttered without daring to raise her head. If Jaehwan gave her the same answer one more time, she was not sure she could endure the thought that was slowly swallowing her whole.
A useless human who only got in the way.
All the time she had spent trying not to become that kind of person flashed before her eyes. She had survived by any means necessary and made it this far.
Why, then? Why did all the time she had endured feel meaningless whenever she stood before this man?
When she finally gathered the courage to look up, Jaehwan was staring somewhere else. His expression gave away none of his thoughts.
“...Hey.”
Jaehwan did not answer.
“Excuse me.”
Come to think of it, he had always been that kind of person, ever since they first met. No matter what she asked, he never answered.
That was why she still did not even know who he was.
There was one thing she knew, though.
He was human.
A human who preferred asking questions to answering them.
He had asked whether she would go to the past if she could. He had asked why someone needed identification papers to prove who they were.
He was someone who wondered about questions she had never once considered.
Someone made entirely of questions about this world.
...Why did this person want to know those things?
Where did he ultimately wish to reach through those questions?
Mino suddenly wanted to know.
“Where are you going now?”
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“...Still, tell me.”
Mino spoke with a hint of hurt in her voice.
“There’s something I’m looking for.”
“What is it? I might be able to help.”
Jaehwan paused before answering.
“A Dream Demon.”
Dream Demon. Beings called 「Creators」 in the Great Realm.
Mino stiffened at the name she had not heard in a long time. Anyone who still remembered being a Product might have reacted the same way.
“What are you going to do after finding a Dream Demon? ...Get revenge?”
Mino thought that Jaehwan might very well do that.
He did not answer. It was the silence of someone who thought she would not understand even if he explained.
Mino felt a little offended.
“Dream Demons are an extremely rare species even across the Great Realm. They do not stay in one place, either.”
“So there aren’t any here?”
“If you look hard enough, there might be. Dream Demons are one of the few species that can travel freely through 《Chaos》 without experiencing ‘death.’”
They could come and go through 《Chaos》 freely without experiencing death. Jaehwan’s brow twitched.
“Are Dream Demons the only ones who can do that?”
“Cultivators and the Lords of the 《Great Realm》 can do it too. I heard they use special methods to enter, but I don’t know the details.”
Jaehwan’s brow twitched again. A little color returned to Mino’s expression at that movement. For some reason, she felt as though she understood the man named Jaehwan a little better.
“Um... I can’t be certain.”
Mino watched his dark eyebrows and deliberately paused.
“But I do know one place where there might be a Dream Demon.”
“Where?”
“There’s a forge. One made by a Dream Demon.”
A forge.
At those words, Jaehwan looked at the Ice Dragon Sword hanging at his waist. Come to think of it, he needed to visit a forge sooner or later.
“Ah.”
Mino nodded as if she understood.
Of course, carrying a sword like that on his waist without even a scabbard would draw attention. The looks Jaehwan had been receiving from those around him for some time had not been ordinary.
“Would you like me to show you the way?”
Jaehwan nodded, then gripped his sword hilt.
“After I deal with the ones who have been following us.”
When Jaehwan turned around, the thugs who had been taking drugs in the alley earlier stood there, snickering. It was a secluded stretch of road where they could not expect help from anyone nearby.
A thug who appeared to be their leader stepped forward, about to say something.
“This way, Boss!”
“Found him! You, that sword...!”
The moment the thugs drew their swords, Jaehwan drew his as well.
Their miserable screams filled the mouth of the alley.
* * *
A short while later, the dozen or so thugs were either sprawled across the road or had fled.
...It seemed he had taken down someone who was not a thug too.
Someone had been hiding on a rooftop, watching him. They had been caught by the 「Doubt」 Jaehwan was using. They had been hiding quite diligently, but had tried so hard to remain hidden that it was impossible not to notice.
Since he had drawn his sword anyway, Jaehwan knocked that person unconscious too. He had not killed them because they did not seem particularly threatening.
Mino spoke in admiration.
“How did you take them all down using only Stab? How strong are you when you use a proper skill?”
“I only know Stab.”
“...You’re joking, right?”
“It’s true. Light Stab. Normal Stab. Hard Stab.”
Mino laughed and waved her hand, then froze.
“...Seriously?”
Jaehwan did not answer.
“No, who names techniques like that?”
Most of the renowned powerhouses in 《Chaos》 had flashy names for their techniques. Human nature made people want to look impressive when they were strong.
“Want me to name one for you? How about Darkening Rupture Slash or Asura Infinite Slash?”
“I don’t like grand names.”
“All right, names are personal preference. But can I ask one more thing?”
“What?”
“Which one did you use just now? Light, normal, or hard?”
It had been a Stab that made the air flash.
Anyone could see that it had been an incredibly powerful Stab. Its destructive power was something even the strong of the Ten Halls of Chaos could not disregard.
If it was that kind of Stab...
“Light Stab.”
“What?”
“It was Light Stab.”
The men who had fallen were quite strong for thugs. Most were Non-Adapters, but there had been around two first-stage Adapters among them.
He had killed them all with a “light” stab?
Mino recalled how Jaehwan had swept through the Red Fox Clan. That terrifying Stab that had destroyed an entire forest.
In a trembling voice, Mino asked, “Have you only been using ‘Light Stab’ until now?”
“No. I used ‘Normal Stab’ once too.”
Mino assumed that Normal Stab must have been the Stab that finished off the Red Fox Clan.
But Jaehwan’s answer was different.
“When I hunted the horned wolf.”
“It must have been an incredibly strong horned beast.”
“It was stronger than the others.”
Jaehwan thought of the horn of the horned beast inside his Dimensional Bag.
That five-horned wolf had been the strongest enemy Jaehwan had faced since entering 《Chaos》. It had survived several Light Stabs. Of course, it had died immediately after taking a single Normal Stab.
Mino looked at Jaehwan with disbelief for a while, then surprisingly seemed to accept it quickly.
“...Come to think of it, I know an Adapter who uses only one technique, just like you.”
“Like me?”
“Yes. They use ‘Slash,’ not Stab.”
...An Adapter who used only Slash?
Jaehwan was about to ask more about them when a clang, clang of metal began to ring out from somewhere.
It was a sound he had missed.
For the first time in a long while, Jaehwan thought of the Companion who had stayed with him to the very end in the Tower of Nightmares: Jay and 〈Jay’s Workshop〉.
Whenever Jaehwan returned after a terrible battle on the Tower’s front lines, he would sink deep into the holy water of the temple and listen to the hammering from the workshop.
It was a rough, plain sound, but it rang out with steady rhythm.
It was not music of any kind, yet its presence alone was comforting. Even after he had faced death time and again, even when he returned with his sword broken, that sound had always waited for him without changing.
Even after Jay disappeared, the sound had not faded. Like an auditory hallucination, it remained in Jaehwan’s ears and at his fingertips as a faint but vivid sensation.
Perhaps...
Perhaps it was because Jay had passed that sound on to him that he had been able to break through the hundredth floor of the Tower alone.
At the place where the long sound of hammering finally died down, where it began and ended, Mino spoke.
“It’s the largest forge in Gorgon.”
〈Twilight Dusk〉
That was the name of the forge where a Dream Demon might be found.
* * *
Once, the connoisseurs of the 《Great Realm》 had debated the following question.
“Who is the greatest craftsman in the Great Realm?”
To answer that question, they first had to admit that the expression “greatest craftsman” was deeply flawed.
After all, the greatest craftsman in the Great Realm was not human.
Dream Demons.
If the strongest beings in the Great Realm were the Lords, then the greatest craftsmen, no, the greatest craft-demons of the Great Realm were Dream Demons.
In particular, the five hundred Dream Demons called 「Master Craftsman」 and the thirteen Dream Demons called 「Masters」 were unquestionably the finest Creators in all of the 《Great Realm》.
〈Twilight Dusk〉, located in Gorgon Fortress, was one of the greatest weapon workshops in 《Chaos》. It had been created by Ignel of the Deep Dusk, a Dream Demon who competed for the top ranks even among the 「Master Craftsman」.
Jaehwan looked around and nodded without realizing it.
It was even more impressive than the largest workshop in Atopos. The interior was spacious, and every tool in use was high quality. Dozens of craftsmen were absorbed in their work, apparently fulfilling orders from all over the place. The heat from the central furnace was intense enough to melt an entire ordinary workshop.
Jaehwan asked, “A Dream Demon made this place?”
“That’s right.”
“Then there might be a Dream Demon here.”
“Maybe.”
Just then, a workshop attendant appeared from somewhere and greeted them. They were a young, sturdy man who looked to be a craftsman’s Disciple.
“Welcome!”
“Are you a Dream Demon?”
The attendant’s face crumpled as Jaehwan threw out the question the moment he entered. In this place, there was only one person “Dream Demon” could refer to.
Mino hurriedly stepped forward.
“I’m sorry, but he only recently came back from the dead, so he’s a little... Please understand.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Mino’s apologetic smile softened the attendant’s expression.
[No, he obviously looks human.]
Jaehwan said nothing.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to meet a Dream Demon.”
“...You came to meet the Workshop Master.”
The attendant looked troubled.
“I’m sorry, but the Workshop Master is not here at the moment.”
“Where did they go?”
“Well, they have a terrible habit of wandering around... Don’t tell me you came to commission the Workshop Master personally?”
Jaehwan thought for a moment.
“That wouldn’t be bad either.”
“What would you like to commission...?”
“A scabbard.”
“A scabbard...”
The attendant looked at Jaehwan’s sword, which lacked a scabbard, then shook his head.
“Even if the Workshop Master were here, I doubt they would have accepted the commission.”
“Why?”
“Making weapons is not the Workshop Master’s main profession. As you may already know, weapons are not what Dream Demons mainly create.”
Jaehwan was about to ask what they did create, then realized he already knew the answer.
For decades, he had experienced in the most desperate way possible what those Dream Demons mainly created.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion