No Dark Secrets In This Book

Episode 78

What returned was an unexpected self-praise. At this point, it was enough to suspect whether Cassice Demillang had gone completely crazy and become a different person. Of course, it wasn’t a serious thought. Because there’s no way something like that could happen.

‘I regressed, but…’

Thinking that way, it seemed suspicious again. In the end, Ryuseong was agonizing over it, but then he burst into laughter at the following words.

“You wouldn’t be able to distinguish between high-quality pearls and cheap fake pearls even if you were given them, right? Come to me anytime if you have to deal with such valuable items since you’re just right to be taken advantage of. Just don’t get scammed.”

…It might be a thought he would regret, but it seemed fine anyway. As long as Cassice Demillang was Cassice Demillang, he felt anything was okay.

That changed three days later though.

“It’s already Siberia. Do you have a plan?”

“Ah, of course I do.”

“What is it?”

The next moment, a bewitching eye smile choked his breath.

“From now on, we’re going to get off the train.”

“Get off a running train to do what?”

Clank, Cassice Demillang opened the window. Only then did Ryuseong, realizing that his nonsense was sincere, try to stop the crazy act, but Cassice Demillang had already fallen out the window.

“Are you crazy…!”

Only the echo of ‘are you crazy’ was resounding on the Siberian plain where a snowstorm was raging.

…So, Cassice Demillang had a plan for everything.

Although Ryuseong couldn’t empathize.

***

Hmm, I did jump out with good momentum, but after all, throwing your body out of a running train was a crazy thing to do, right?

Tumble, tumble, roll. I somehow succeeded in landing, but I twisted my foot and ended up rolling about ten times. And that too on a downhill slope. If there hadn’t been a thick layer of snow on the ground, my joints would have been dislocated. Still, before Ryuseong could see my pathetic state, I tried to quickly clean up my miserable appearance using breakfall techniques and stood up.

‘This is crazy, crazy. I can’t even endure this much.’

“Ryuseong, Mr. Ryuseong?”

I called out Ryuseong’s name into the pitch-black void. The snowstorm fluttering in all directions was blurring and devouring my field of vision, and the golden light leaking from the train was getting farther and farther away. Even though I was wearing quite thick clothes, my bones were cold and chilling, so this was indeed the Siberian plain.

‘…But why isn’t this guy coming? He’s not running away alone, is he?’

I sniffed the air with a ‘hmph’ sound, feeling like my nose would run for no reason.

I had a clear desire for this journey. Honor. Participating in the official raid and showing an overwhelming class beforehand. Actually, that alone would be enough. But to build up my reputation, it would be more efficient to go through a preliminary process.

‘For example, conducting an impromptu raid!’

That’s right. From now on, I was going to sweep away every monster colony I saw along the railway.

If I hide my identity and reveal it later, it would be like anonymously donating and then revealing the donor’s name later, so I could get double the benefit. So a situation like this should be considered good.

So I landed nonchalantly at a specific spot on the plain where black foxes were said to gather… Actually, I couldn’t be completely nonchalant.

‘Of course! Who would gladly accept overwork?’

If even regular work isn’t pleasant, overtime work outside of working hours is terrible!

‘But to make a living… Sigh.’

When I think that all my antics are a desperate effort to make a tough life a little more bearable, tears were about to blur my vision.

At that moment, black figures began to approach through the snowstorm. No fucking way. It was too flat to be Ryuseong. How should I describe it? Should I say it looked like a black wild boar crawling on the ground? So it was unbelievable. I heard that monsters were swarming on the Siberian plain, and that’s why I jumped to wipe them out, but… Suddenly I’m pissed off.

‘Why do you suddenly appear like a horror special and make my heart race, you bastard!’

I poured all my anger into beautifully turning them into minced meat. I tried to wipe the splattered monster blood off the back of my hand, but Ryuseong, who ran through the snowstorm, grabbed my wrist. And before I could come to my senses, he lifted my ankle.

“Are you hurt? Are you in your right mind? The potion is.”

“Yes, I’m hurt, I’m in my right mind, and the potion can wait.”

“What right mind would fall from the train, take out the potion first. Damn it. What were you thinking?”

“I’m in my right mind.”

“I said take out the potion.”

What a temper. Clicking my tongue, I took out the potion, and he knelt on one knee and tried to take off my shoe. But I wanted to avoid being touched because my swollen instep was painful.

“Just pour it like that.”

“You don’t seem to know the concept of first aid right now.”

But Ryuseong didn’t listen to me at all and arbitrarily unbuckled it, and I unknowingly bent my waist and grabbed his shoulders.

Normally, I would have brushed off an injury of this degree with a snort, but maybe because the weather was so cold that my flesh could freeze, it felt like even the wound would freeze. I irritatedly tapped the gem attached to the middle of the robe to raise the heating function more, but the only answer that came back was that it was already set to the maximum. I’m freezing to death. Is it defective? Well, I only checked for poison with the principal, not the functions. Could it be that these Demillang bastards are trying to freeze me to death…? I was dumbfounded and glaring at the robe when the potion was poured on the wound.

Hmm, a warm energy spread out and then pricked like needles. Soon, it became a state where I could move my ankle without pain. As expected of a top-grade potion. Awesome.

“Are you okay?”

“…Everything except being cold. I think the robe is broken.”

“What?”

Ryuseong hastily got up. It was obvious at a glance that he was in a hurry. He slipped his leather-gloved hand into the robe and touched my body, then took off the leather gloves inside the robe and touched me with his bare hands. I gave up joking about how lewd it was because I was cold. I was so cold that even the leather gloves felt warm, and when his bare hands touched, a burning sensation came as if I would get burned.

“You look like you’re going to die before the battle.”

He said that and took off his robe. I thought he was crazy, but he took off my defective robe and put his robe on me.

“And you won’t die?”

But as soon as the robe’s lock was engaged while I was talking, a warm heat rushed in as if a warm breeze was blowing. No fucking way, if you wear one that’s not defective, it’s this warm. I was the only one who was fucking cold. Life is chilling. It’s cruel…

As I was wistfully looking back on the cruelty of life for a moment, Ryuseong spoke as if telling me to come to my senses.

“Before I follow you and die, let’s find a place to shelter from the wind. If you sleep now, you’ll die. If you don’t want to get slapped, get up.”

I preferred getting slapped on the bed. But this place was too vast to be considered a bed. There’s a limit to the sense of openness.

I nearly got frostbite while unzipping my pants, you know.

I’m also human, so I wanted to prevent such a terrible future. So I obediently moved my steps at Ryuseong’s words and entered the cave he found.

After checking that no monsters were hiding inside, Ryuseong pushed me to the inner side where the wind didn’t blow and went out for a moment, then came back in and lit a bonfire. It was a moment when I deeply understood the words of the professors who said that even a swordsman should know how to use fire magic to make life easier. Imagine not even being able to light a fire at times like this. You would have frozen to death.

I watched with sleepy eyes as he made something like a brazier over the fire he lit and placed a pot on it. At some point, when I came to my senses, a warm soup was placed in a mug in my hand.

How should I put it, um…

‘A well-trained Ryuseong, wouldn’t he be better than ten servants?’

“Is there anything I can help with?”

As I was shamelessly lying down, treating Ryuseong as a higher being than ten servants, my conscience somewhere was pricked, so I just opened my mouth.

I had no intention of properly helping, but I thought I should at least say something. But Ryuseong seemed to have seen through my petty intention.

“You’re a young master. I never thought you would be helpful in camping from the beginning.”

“Haha.”

Well, that’s true. But I feel burdened making only you work.

“I’m originally from the streets, so I’m good at this kind of thing.”

…Why are you saying that while eating soup?

When I stopped blowing on the soup and paused my actions, Ryuseong tilted his head as if puzzled.

“It’s not wrong, is it? You probably know that too.”

“Well, I thought it would be a good material to attack you without hesitation when I met you. But now we’re bound by the frame of being lovers, aren’t we?”

I smiled arrogantly.

“Would I spit on my own face?”