CHAPTER 156
156. White Beard
Only the sound of one person's footsteps could be heard. Naturally, they were Jinwoo's. Larna skillfully hid her own footsteps within the sound of Jinwoo's. But when Jinwoo suddenly stopped walking.
Jeobeok.
The sound of a footstep rang out one more time. When Jinwoo looked back, he felt the presence of Larna hiding and running away. He couldn't see her with his eyes due to whatever power she used to hide, but the movement of the Black Flame was clear.
'What is she trying to do...'
She had been following him for days. He had tried telling her to come out, tried coaxing her, but she never showed herself. Once, he even thought about just killing her and chased her with his sword, but she noticed the killing intent like a ghost and ran away again.
'No, maybe she's running away more because I tried to kill her.'
Perhaps. But it couldn't be helped. Having something hover around him constantly like a mosquito buzzing while trying to sleep was incredibly annoying. Even more so since it wasn't a real mosquito, but a Lord on par with Jerakson.
Though he didn't know why that Lord was acting like a stalker.
"Want to eat?"
Dinner time. In the dark bushes after sunset, the campfire Jinwoo lit crackled. There, he sizzled meat soaked in plenty of oil. He grilled several thickly cut steaks.
Even if it was steak, it wasn't proper like a specialty restaurant. He just dumped in some spices he had brought along and grilled it reasonably well. Some were slightly tough because they were overcooked, and some tasted slightly of blood because they were undercooked.
Still, it wasn't inedible. He picked out a few pieces that were grilled decently and piled them like a mountain on a plate. Then he walked toward where Larna was hiding and set it down nearby. Along with vegetables to go with it and fruit for dessert.
He watched over the meal, which was quite decent for something cooked roughly, but Larna did not come out. She was only watching his movements quietly from a distance.
"Suit yourself."
Shrugging, Jinwoo returned to the campfire. He devoured the remaining meat, scraped up the bread and vegetables with a sauce made by mixing commercial sauce and a few seasonings. After eating a strongly sour sorbet, it felt like he had eaten a proper meal for the first time in a while.
Feeling a pleasant satiety, he slept and woke up. He tidied up the site while feeling the morning sunlight. Checking the plate he had left on Larna's side yesterday, he saw it was wiped clean.
"What the, she ate it well."
Larna was hiding in a different direction than yesterday. Did she still think she could hide?
As he looked in that direction and spoke, the Black Flame jumped in surprise and widened the distance a bit more.
Jinwoo smirked and cleaned up the plate. It was clean as if lick-cleaned, but on one side, there were teeth marks as if she had bitten it.
Chewing up a plate like this would be nothing for her, so for it to end with just marks... She probably realized it wasn't food the moment she bit it. Imagining her looking sullen after realizing that made him imagine the scene for no reason.
Still, since he had put some effort into treating her, he felt good seeing she ate well. Humming a tune, he tidied up everything where he stayed and covered the campfire with soil.
He kicked the dirt to scatter the traces and set off. Larna followed behind him, still maintaining that constant distance. The sunlight gently conveyed warmth in the air that was still cold as the day brightened.
**
It was strange.
Why she was doing this, what the principle behind her own actions was—even she didn't know.
'Run... shouldn't I run away?'
Her reason was screaming at her to flee. The opponent was someone who could kill her. In fact, they had even fought to kill each other.
But why wasn't she running away? Because her instinct was commanding her not to get far.
'I have to run away...'
A battle between reason and instinct. It is something any living being with an ego goes through. She was the same, and she had agonizing moments several times in her life.
Of course, her answer in such dilemmas was always the same.
Follow instinct.
Having lived relying on instinct since birth, she trusted her intuition blindly, almost like a religion. She survived by instinct, became strong by instinct, and ascended to the great world called the Spirit Realm thanks to following her instinct, so it would be strange not to trust it.
So she was here now too. Because the instinct not to get far was stronger than the reason that said she must flee.
'That grilled meat was delicious...'
Suddenly, the steak she ate yesterday came to mind. She also possessed some knowledge of civilization, so she grilled, steamed, or boiled food to eat. But the absolute majority of her meals were finished raw.
Perhaps that was why the cooked food she ate occasionally felt affectionate. It tasted warm even though she ate it after it had cooled down completely. Although her body didn't feel cold anyway.
'Where is he going?'
She suddenly looked at Jinwoo's back walking ahead. She could see him trudging along, but she couldn't know anything from just that.
If she wanted to know the destination, she could just talk to him, but she didn't have the courage. How could she know if he wouldn't suddenly stab her with a knife?
'...!'
Just then, she saw Jinwoo grab his sword. Did he read my mind?! Startled, she hurriedly widened the distance. No matter how much her instinct told her not to get far, sensing the crisis of death was also the same instinct.
Fortunately, Jinwoo's sword didn't aim at her. Was it a monster? There was a beast with multiple horns charging in, and he cut it down. Cutting out the heart in a single stroke was swordsmanship that was clean beyond compare.
The complete opposite of her messy sword.
'Phew.'
As Jinwoo sheathed his sword, Larna crept closer again. If his mood seemed strange, she moved away; if it seemed okay, she approached again. Of course, she never entered within a certain distance.
Maintaining that distance, she continued to follow Jinwoo. How long had passed like that? Eventually, a clean lake began to come into view.
A lake with clean water spread out like the ocean. The water, so transparent it looked like crystal, reflected the sunlight and scattered a soft rainbow light.
"Wow."
An exclamation came out naturally at the scenery unfolding before his eyes. Right, come to think of it, the Spirit Realm is a land with good water, good air, and abundant pure mana. It felt like this when he first came here too.
After that, he suffered from all sorts of rough events and had no time to enjoy this scenery. From Silbaern to Jerakson, and this time meeting Grunt and Larna.
Perhaps pleased by the wide and clean lake, the Spirit guiding Jinwoo was excitedly circling above the water. It flew quite far alone, but Jinwoo didn't stop it. It would come back when it got tired of playing.
'No World Tree.'
Jinwoo did Jinwoo's job. Checking if the World Tree was there.
According to what he heard before, the World Tree was definitely said to be growing in such beautiful scenery. Whether the World Tree settled here because it was clean, or the surroundings became clean because the World Tree settled here, he didn't know.
In that sense, this place looked like an environment sufficient for the World Tree to grow, but there were no trees that looked like it. There were many quite large and thick trees, but they were all ordinary trees. There was no Soul Tree that used souls as nutrients.
—...? ...!
At that moment, he felt a hand pulling on his pant leg. It was such a small force that he might have mistaken it for the wind. Feeling a small flame proportional to that force, Jinwoo looked down.
"A fairy, is it?"
—...! ...!
There was a tiny lifeform. Different from a Spirit. Unlike that spiritual existence, the lifeform here had a physical body.
A cute appearance wearing a hat. A being worthy of being called a Fairy of the Lake was pulling Jinwoo's pants, eyes sparkling. It’s a stranger, aren't you scared?
"Follow you?"
—...!
Chirping a reply, the Fairy pulled Jinwoo and headed somewhere. Of course, it was impossible to pull an adult male with that strength, so Jinwoo was walking on his own.
Where the Fairy headed, there was a cozily decorated cave. The cave itself was large enough for Jinwoo to enter, but inside were only Fairies and Fairy items.
—...! ...!
As Jinwoo entered, the Fairies resting in the cave jumped up all at once. Then they brought all sorts of fruits and mushrooms and thrust them at Jinwoo.
'Is there a culture of welcoming strangers?'
It was a being he was seeing for the first time, but there was nothing bad about being welcomed. No hostility was felt, and the fruit wasn't poisoned.
'It's tasty.'
The fruits and mushrooms the Fairies gave had a special taste. Food in the Spirit Realm was originally said to be special because it held abundant mana, but this was on a different level. Was it because the ingredients grew drinking the clean water of the lake?
Even while Jinwoo was savoring it, the Fairies chattered ceaselessly. He couldn't understand what they were saying; it just sounded like chirping, but it was pleasant to hear, similar to bird songs.
After staying like that for a while, another guest entered the cave. Larna, who had been following behind, was led in by a Fairy.
"Heup!"
She flinched and tried to pull back as soon as she saw Jinwoo, but her gaze soon fixed on Jinwoo's hand. There, a fruit with one bite taken out still remained.
Seeing that, Jinwoo took his sword out of his inventory. Larna was horrified. Just the gesture of slightly gripping it made her startled as if her heart would drop.
But she didn't run away. Her gaze was still directed at the Fairies' food laid out in front of Jinwoo.
She is a guy unified with the Seed possessing the authority of Predation. Just as she is bound by eating, she might be bound by special food.
—...!
"Ah, th-thank you..."
The Fairy treated her as well, and Larna crouched in the corner of the cave, mindful of Jinwoo. Then she began to devour the Fairy's fruit hurriedly.
Jinwoo blew air out of his nose once and sheathed his sword. Instead, he took out a wooden skewer, stuck a mushroom on it, and placed it next to the campfire.
'Fairies of the Lake, huh...'
A lake is an existence that gives generosity to the birds and beasts living in the mountains. Insects are the same. Since all life can live only with water, to a lake, all life might be objects of generosity. Perhaps that's why the Fairies of the Lake are giving this kind of treatment to him and Larna too.
'This area... seems to have no danger.'
Since coming to the Spirit Realm, he wondered how long it had been since he was in such a peaceful place. No Black Flame was felt nearby, and aside from Larna, no rotten and corrupt existences like Grunt were felt either.
Peacefulness with really nothing but clean water and air.
Instead, there is no World Tree here either. It wasn't the place Jinwoo was aiming for.
"By any chance."
Wouldn't the Fairies have some information? The probability didn't seem high. How much would Fairies who only live here know about news from the outside?
"Do you know where the World Tree... the Soul Tree is growing?"
He asked without expecting much. Then, a clear voice, not a chirping one, was heard.
—Why, why are you looking for Him now?
One of the Fairies. He saw a Fairy who looked like a Taoist master with a long white beard.