Chapter 31

Chapter 31. The First Hero (25)

After helping Taylor solve one of his concerns, Peuten decided to ask about something he'd wondered since arriving in Tolkan Village.

"May I ask you something?"

"If it's something I can answer, sure."

"I saw you hunting Wild Pigs on the way here. Did a large number of retired mercenaries move into Tolkan Village?"

"No. We learned the Butchering skill and started hunting them ourselves."

The moment Peuten heard the word Butchering, he nodded.

So Seongchan taught everyone the Butchering skill, and that's how they became capable of hunting Wild Pigs.

Wild Pigs were relatively easy monsters to kill once someone could deal with their tough hides.

Peuten remembered the villagers standing on the palisade and stabbing the Wild Pigs with spears.

"Did everyone learn Butchering?"

"Yes. Everyone learned it."

Taylor looked at him.

"You said Hero Kim Seongchan sent you. Is something wrong with him?"

Peuten took a mana stone from his subspace pouch and showed it to Taylor.

"Seongchan is fine. Do you know what this is?"

"I know it's a mana stone, but it has a strange symbol on it."

"Have you ever seen Wild Pigs going berserk?"

Taylor nodded.

Recently, more Wild Pigs had begun approaching the village foaming at the mouth.

"The number of berserk Wild Pigs has been increasing."

Peuten held up the stone.

"This is a Fear Mana Stone. It can drive Wild Pigs insane. Fear Mana Stones are connected to demons."

"Did you come looking for me because you want to find one?"

"Exactly. Will you cooperate?"

"Hero Kim Seongchan sent you. Of course I'll help! Is there anything else you need?"

"We'll discuss that after we find the Fear Mana Stone."

"Understood."

And so Peuten and Taylor met.

Together, they investigated the Fear Mana Stones.

Then they loaded Wild Pig meat onto a carriage as Seongchan had requested and began the journey back toward the Terk Kingdom.

"Seongchan, it's a good thing we weren't late."

"Hero Kim Seongchan, were you waiting long?"

"How did you arrive at exactly the right moment?"

Seongchan looked at the carriage packed with fresh Wild Pigs.

"If you hadn't come, I would've been forced to make horrible Wild Pig Soup."

He had nearly been forced to cook with rotting Wild Pigs.

Instead, Peuten and Taylor had arrived with a carriage full of fresh ones.

The two men unloaded the Wild Pigs one by one.

A new pile formed in front of Seongchan.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?! That's not what we agreed!"

Park Seokdu obviously wasn't going to stand there silently.

He'd be better off staying quiet.

Some of the people who had been looking at Seongchan suspiciously began to change their expressions.

The bet was about whether Seongchan had secretly swapped out Wild Pig meat or not.

Peuten and Taylor had just arrived carrying Wild Pigs themselves.

Anyone could clearly see the difference between the fresh Wild Pigs and the ones whose fur had already begun changing color.

"What do you mean, it's not what we agreed? Wasn't the bet about whether I can cook using Wild Pig meat?"

"How can I trust those?! I won't accept it unless you use the Wild Pigs I brought!"

"You should take responsibility for those words."

Peuten's voice was deep and firm.

From what I can see, Park Seokdu is simply being unreasonable.

Peuten knew Park Seokdu well.

His gaze turned cold.

Park Seokdu had been angrily shouting at Seongchan.

The moment he saw Peuten, cold sweat began running down his back.

Why is Peuten here?

Park Seokdu received support from the Highs Merchant Company.

He quickly tried to explain the situation.

"Well... we made a bet for one platinum. We agreed to see whether Wild Pig Soup could actually be made from Wild Pig meat."

"Then there should be no problem using these Wild Pigs."

Peuten looked toward the fresh pile.

"We hunted them on the way here. Not even a day has passed."

Then he looked toward Park Seokdu's pile.

"Some of those Wild Pigs have poor fur color. Fresh Wild Pig tastes better."

Peuten turned toward the residents.

"What do you think?"

Some nodded.

Others said that Wild Pig was Wild Pig regardless of its condition.

"Still, they made a bet, so shouldn't Hero Park Seokdu's Wild Pigs be the ones used?"

"That's right! Hero Park Seokdu worked hard to hunt them specifically for the proof!"

Even now, some residents sided with the Rice Ball Guild.

Seongchan decided to listen to the people trying to turn the situation around.

Though whether they would like the form his answer took was another matter.

"All right!"

Seongchan raised his voice.

"Then we'll decide this properly. Anyone who doesn't care about the Wild Pig's fur color, move to the left. Anyone who wants healthy-looking Wild Pig meat, move to the right!"

The crowd divided.

The difference between the left and right groups was roughly one-third.

Park Seokdu prepared more carefully than I expected.

Seongchan had thought only around one-fifth of the residents would support Park Seokdu.

There were more than expected.

Seongchan drew his knife.

"I'll cook both at the same time. As long as it's technically edible, that's enough, right?"

The residents standing on the left suddenly felt chills run down their backs.

There was something ominous in Seongchan's voice.

You're going to suffer.

Seongchan placed the Wild Pig closest to rotting on the cutting board.

Slash!

He removed the hide.

The Wild Pig's flesh was exposed clearly before everyone.

"Isn't that swollen too much?"

"It's not just one spot. Are we sure that's edible?"

The nearly rotten Wild Pig had around eight poison sacs.

As Wild Pig meat starts rotting, poison sacs become much more common.

Fresh Wild Pigs often had no poison sacs at all.

But Wild Pigs near the point of decay often developed several.

Even after removing the sacs, the surrounding flesh has already started rotting.

And even if I cut that away, the remaining meat has lost its firmness and tastes awful.

Normally, Seongchan would've wanted If to burn a Wild Pig in this condition to ash.

But he had something to prove.

So he moved his butchering knife without hesitation.

Tiny changes in resistance traveled from the knife's edge into the handle.

Seongchan focused on the sensations entering the hand gripping the knife.

Then he began removing the poison sacs one by one.

"He's cutting them out like that?"

"Wow. I thought the poison sacs were small, but they spread much farther than I expected."

"He removed them, but can we really eat that?"

Those comments came from residents who had chosen the fresh Wild Pigs.

The others reacted differently.

"He's just putting on a poison-removal show. The poison probably isn't actually gone."

"If it tastes bad, we can just spit it out."

"That scammer thinks flashy knife work is enough to fool us."

Even after watching Seongchan remove the poison sacs with their own eyes, the residents who had chosen Park Seokdu's Wild Pigs refused to accept reality.

Seongchan's hands continued moving.

It almost looked as though several people were working at once.

Every Wild Pig touched by Seongchan's hands was skinned, had its poison sacs removed, and was separated into edible cuts at an absurd speed.

"Can someone really remove poison sacs like that?"

"He didn't even change the knife's direction. He lifted the poison sac with the side of the butchering knife while cutting the meat at the same time."

Another villager swallowed.

"If he makes even one mistake, the sac will burst. Am I really seeing this?"

Several villagers who possessed the Butchering skill and understood what they were watching repeatedly exclaimed in amazement.

Even areas that normally required several cuts were handled with a single motion.

[Intermediate Butchering (B) has advanced to Advanced Butchering (A)!]

[Low-Grade Poison Processing (C) has advanced to Intermediate Poison Processing (B)!]

After repeatedly skinning Wild Pigs and preparing their meat, Seongchan's skills increased.

[You have perfectly finished preparing a Wild Pig at astonishing speed!]

[You have learned One-Stroke Skinning (A)!]

One-Stroke Skinning was a skill that allowed a process that normally required ten separate cuts through thick hide to be completed in a single motion.

It was not an easy skill to obtain.

The user had to flawlessly complete everything from skinning to meat preparation without making even a single mistake.

They needed to identify the tiny differences between bone and bone, poison sac and poison sac, flesh and flesh.

And they had to separate everything in one precise cut without hesitation.

Fwoooooosh!

If was breathing fire outside the furnaces instead of sitting inside them.

It stood firmly on its back legs and stretched both front paws forward.

Flames poured from its paws.

There were two cauldrons.

If was controlling both furnaces at once.

"Isn't that tiring?"

[Not at all. Am I controlling the fire properly?]

Seongchan approached the cauldrons.

He checked the rising steam and the temperature of the boiling water.

Then he nodded.

If immediately looked pleased.

The right side is weak.

If's happy expression immediately collapsed slightly.

Seeing that, Seongchan smiled faintly.

Remember the first time you tried controlling fire beneath a cauldron.

If remembered.

Its entire body shivered automatically.

Back then, controlling fire had been terrifying.

The heat gradually increased.

The water inside the cauldron began boiling violently, splashing droplets outside.

You don't need to be afraid.

Remembering how bad its fire control had once been made If nervous.

The flames began fluctuating.

If Seongchan had left it alone, If might have corrected the fire by itself.

Even so, Seongchan needed to say something.

Because you need to understand it.

Problems needed to be pointed out when they appeared.

Even between a spirit and its master, neither side could perfectly feel every single thought or emotion of the other.

A person could feel several emotions at once.

Thoughts were the same.

Only the thoughts and emotions someone consciously organized and strongly wished to convey were clearly transmitted.

Seongchan hid the lazy thought that it would be easier to simply let the moment pass without sending anything to If.

I'll help you move forward.

Ignoring it now and bringing it up later would only force If to reopen memories it wanted to forget.

There was something Seongchan wanted it to understand now.

Think back to when you first met me.

If remembered being rescued from Osle.

It remembered gradually learning how to control fire.

The unstable flames slowly settled.

[Is it okay now?]

It's okay. And remember this.

[What should I remember?]

Everything.

Seongchan's thoughts remained gentle.

"Remember the time when you couldn't control fire, the time when you started succeeding, and every step in between. You don't need to ask me anymore. You already know how to control fire well."

[Master...]

And if it becomes too hard, we can use firewood. You can return to the Spirit Realm.

[No. I don't want to return to the Spirit Realm.]

[Do you never think about how tired I am?]

[Ah... are you tired...?]

If maintained the flames.

Tears of fire gathered in its eyes.

For a moment, silence passed.

Many thoughts rushed through If's mind.

Eventually it reached a conclusion.

[Am I really making things that hard for you? What should I do?]

Osle had always forced If to behave a certain way.

Control the fire better.

Do it properly.

He had repeatedly spoken to If coldly.

Back then, If had thought about nothing except improving its fire control.

It feels like Master wants something other than better fire control.

If was much better at controlling fire now.

But the better it became, the more difficult the fire-control tasks became.

That frightened it.

How long would it continue?

What if I become like I was under my previous master?

Anxiety surged through If.

The tears of flame in its eyes began trembling.

"If."

Hearing Seongchan's voice, If slowly raised its head.

Seongchan was looking at it with a gentle smile.

"It's okay."

A spirit and its master shared emotions.

The spirit received the master's feelings.

The master received the spirit's feelings.

But what happened when the number of spirits increased?

The master had to receive the emotions of every additional spirit.

If was so focused on its own emotions that it failed to fully read Seongchan's feelings.

Ella was different.

She had read them clearly.

That was why she had told If it might be better to return to the Spirit Realm.

I'm grateful you're trying to read my feelings, Ella, but you're going too far.

[I got scolded! I got scolded!]

Ella's shout didn't sound remotely like she felt scolded.

Seongchan chuckled.

Then he sent her another thought.

Ella, let's start.

Ella read his intention.

She created streams of water, lifted the prepared Wild Pig meat, placed everything into the cauldrons, and closed the lids.

Now they only needed to wait for the food to cook.

If's flames were still slightly unstable.

Thump.

Seongchan sat down beside the emotionally shaken spirit.