Chapter 50. The First Hero (44)
After completing the Wild Pig Soup of Courage, Seongchan had only one thing left to do.
Enjoy a little free time while he waited.
He took out some bread purchased nearby and a bowl of Wild Pig Soup of Courage from his inventory.
He took a bite of bread.
Then he ate a spoonful of soup.
[Courage increases by 200%!]
[All stats increase by 20% for one day!]
The sincerity he'd poured into the Wild Pig Soup of Courage had produced the effect he'd wanted.
Morale was important in war.
A two-hundred-percent increase in courage was practically the same as a significant boost to the morale of the people fighting.
It would turn them into courageous warriors who could face their enemies without giving in to fear.
"Everyone should be pretty satisfied once they eat it."
Chew. Chew.
Seongchan continued eating.
Then he sensed someone watching him and turned his head.
He spotted a group of people who absolutely needed to eat the soup.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you running your restaurant?"
"Oh. Is something wrong?"
"What do you mean, is something wrong? Everyone's going to your restaurant to eat Wild Pig Soup."
It was Kosdal.
He was accompanied by knights, soldiers, Haiman, Serina, and Serina's personal guard, Nir.
They all looked puzzled.
Apparently, they'd expected Seongchan to be working at the Original Wild Pig Soup restaurant.
I came to save this world, not run a restaurant.
Seongchan kept that thought to himself.
Instead, he explained that the shop was open.
"Oh, we're open for business. I just have something else to take care of."
He smiled.
"And you're making an excellent decision. I guarantee you'll be satisfied after eating at the Original Wild Pig Soup restaurant!"
"What are you plotting? Tell me!"
Kosdal grabbed the handle of his sword.
He spoke while positioning himself so he could draw it at any moment.
By now, Seongchan thought he should've earned at least a little trust.
But Kosdal still seemed determined to suspect him.
"Good timing, actually."
Seongchan continued chewing.
"If you go now, you'll arrive before the next rush and won't have to wait in line. So hurry along."
"Tell me!"
Seongchan stopped just as he was about to take another bite of bread.
Kosdal had interrupted his meal again.
He was ruining the entire experience.
"Sir Kosdal, the reason you're taking everyone to my restaurant is to increase their stats, isn't it?"
"How did you know that?"
"It's obvious."
Seongchan gestured toward his meal.
"And the fact that I'm eating the same food should be another clue."
"Then why are you eating out here?"
"Isn't the scenery nice?"
Seongchan had spread a picnic mat in the plaza.
He was sitting beneath a tree whose leaves sheltered him from the sunlight, enjoying his meal beneath the blue sky.
Kosdal looked completely unconvinced.
His expression practically asked what the scenery had to do with anything.
"Sir Kosdal, let's go."
"Oppa, come on. Enjoy your meal, Seongchan."
"Do you seriously think that explanation makes sense?!"
"Master, picnics are wonderful."
"He's obviously plotting something! What does increasing our stats have to do with sitting over there and eating?!"
Seongchan answered Kosdal's shouting with silence.
Serina and Nir exchanged looks.
Then they began pushing Kosdal from behind.
Kosdal continued looking suspiciously at Seongchan, but he eventually headed toward the Original Wild Pig Soup restaurant.
"Goodbye, Sir Kosdal."
Seongchan watched him leave.
"Now I can finally eat in peace."
Different people pursued different kinds of happiness.
Kosdal wanted an increase in his stats.
Seongchan wanted to enjoy his bread and Wild Pig Soup of Courage.
After finishing everything, he lay down.
Putting that much sincerity into the cooking was exhausting.
He'd worked hard.
A delicious meal and some rest were essential after that.
Seongchan closed his eyes.
He fell asleep almost immediately after eating.
How many hours had passed?
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Demons!"
"The demons are attacking!"
A winged demon flew through the sky.
A demon was hanging from each of its legs.
The winged demon released both of them directly above Seongchan.
"If."
FWOOSH!
The moment Seongchan spoke, If appeared.
The spirit burned both demons before they could do anything.
Seongchan looked up.
The winged demon that had dropped them was already flying away at full speed.
It was annoyingly quick to recognize danger.
[Should I catch it?]
No. It's fine. We have somewhere else to go.
The Terk Kingdom's walls were constructed from specially manufactured stone.
They could withstand aura, demonic energy, and attacks from various skills.
Because destroying the walls directly was difficult, the demons were using their winged members as transportation.
They dropped demons inside the walls to create chaos.
Meanwhile, other demons attempted to climb over or destroy the defenses.
BOOOOM! CRASH! BANG!
CLANG! CLANG!
The sounds of colliding weapons, shouting, and violent explosions echoed throughout the city.
Seongchan folded his picnic mat and put it into his inventory.
Then he began walking.
But he didn't head toward the walls, where the battle was raging.
He walked toward Terk Castle instead.
As he followed the well-maintained road, his eyes met those of the knights guarding the castle.
"Sir Kosdal is defending the walls."
"Oh, I know. I'm here because I have something urgent to do."
"What urgent business?"
The two knights looked tense.
Judging by how stiffly they stood, they seemed to have something to hide.
Seongchan smiled, as though encouraging them to relax.
"Count Thornjer summoned me. I'm here to meet him."
"You're going to see Count Thornjer?"
The knights visibly relaxed.
Smiles appeared on their faces.
"Then I'll be going inside. He told me to come quickly."
"Understood. It seems you're walking the same path as us, Seongchan."
Seongchan maintained his smile as he entered the castle.
[We're not attacking them?]
If sounded curious.
What had happened to the spirit that used to be afraid of lighting a furnace?
[Lighting a furnace requires precise control. Attacking someone doesn't need to be nearly as delicate!]
If wasn't human.
It was a spirit.
Naturally, it wanted to show its master the things it was good at.
Adults have their own circumstances.
Those knights are someone's children. Someone's sons. Maybe someone's fathers.
They need to earn money, so they probably felt they had no choice.
[Really?]
Yeah. If they become our enemies, that's another matter.
But attacking someone just because you think they might become an enemy, even though they haven't done anything yet, isn't right.
[I don't understand what you mean.]
If complained that the explanation was making its head spin.
Seongchan received the spirit's confused thoughts and simplified his answer.
If they attack us, we fight back.
If they don't attack us, we leave them alone.
There's no need to start a fight first.
[Ah! Okay!]
If nodded, finally understanding.
They walked through a carefully maintained garden until they reached a patch of dense vegetation.
"Ella."
[I've been waiting! What should I do?]
"Open the hidden door in those bushes."
Ella directed a stream of water toward the location Seongchan had in mind.
Before long, she discovered a concealed door and opened it.
The carefully trimmed vegetation shifted.
Then the stone slab beneath it began rising.
RUMBLE!
A staircase appeared beneath the raised stone door.
Seongchan entered without hesitation.
RUMBLE...
The stone door slowly began closing behind him.
Step. Step.
If's flames illuminated the surroundings, so descending the stairs wasn't difficult.
At the bottom, Seongchan found two unconscious soldiers.
[Both of them are unconscious.]
Ella used her streams of water to check their pulses.
Seongchan also noticed an open doorway.
There wasn't a room beyond it.
There was another staircase.
He would have to descend farther underground.
[There are torches here, but none of them are burning.]
[They were burning earlier, but someone deliberately put them out. There's still some heat left.]
[Really? Why would they do that?]
Ella and If began discussing the torches.
With If's flames lighting the way, Seongchan continued down the stairs.
His footsteps were light.
Whenever this moment approached, Seongchan couldn't help feeling excited.
He descended the diagonally arranged staircase.
Eventually, he reached the bottom.
Two more soldiers lay unconscious there.
And standing nearby was a man with a thick belly, round cheeks, and smiling eyes almost buried in his plump face.
Count Thornjer.
"I'm curious what you came here to obtain, Hero Kim Seongchan."
"Oh?"
Seongchan looked at him.
"I never introduced myself. How did you know my name, Count Thornjer?"
"It seems you know who I am too, Hero Kim Seongchan."
Thornjer became curious.
He recognized me immediately.
He activated See the Other's Information and examined Seongchan's condition.
[Name: Kim Seongchan (Hero)]
[Condition: Excited]
Thornjer wondered whether Seongchan possessed a skill similar to his own.
Everyone in the Highs Merchant Company knows I have a skill that lets me see people's names.
Thornjer had disclosed that ability as part of building trust.
It was also a precaution against making mistakes.
Sometimes I accidentally call someone by name before they introduce themselves.
Just as he'd done with Kim Seongchan.
Once using a skill became a habit, mistakes were inevitable no matter how careful someone tried to be.
But excitement?
That was an unusual condition for this situation.
Thornjer had knocked out the soldiers and deliberately extinguished the torches.
Yet Seongchan was excited.
He was certainly an unusual person.
"Oh, I already know about that."
Seongchan spoke casually.
"I have a skill that lets me see people's names and conditions too. I know the other members of the Highs Merchant Company."
Seongchan had experienced numerous regressions.
He'd possessed that skill during some of them.
He didn't possess it now.
But there was no reason to explain those details to Thornjer.
"How strange."
Thornjer studied him.
"I was told you possessed a future-prediction skill. As far as I know, predicting the future and seeing someone's current condition are different abilities."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Are you saying you possess both?"
"You're sharp."
Thornjer was correct.
Reading someone's condition and predicting the future belonged to different categories and required different skills.
"Would you tell me more about them?"
"What kind of idiot would casually reveal his skills?"
"Fair enough."
Thornjer agreed.
At the same time, he activated his S-rank skill, See the Other's Plan.
Let's see why he's excited and what he's planning.
Thornjer's head immediately began spinning.
[I want to control the fire properly! I have to do well! How can I improve? What if he doesn't like it? What if I fail? I want to control the fire properly! I have to do well! How can I improve? I want to control the fire properly! I have to do well! How can I improve? I want to control the fire properly! I have to do well! How can I improve? I want to control the fire properly! I have to do well! How can I improve? I want to control the fire properly! I have to do well! How can I improve?]
[I have to earn praise! I need to control water well! I have to get even better! Just tell me whenever you need something, and I'll spray water immediately! I have to earn praise! I need to control water well! I have to get even better! Just tell me whenever you need something, and I'll spray water immediately! I have to earn praise! I need to control water well! I have to get even better! Just tell me whenever you need something, and I'll spray water immediately! I have to earn praise! I need to control water well! I have to get even better! Just tell me whenever you need something, and I'll spray water immediately!]
Spirits were free-spirited by nature.
Unless their master guided their thoughts, they could become endlessly absorbed in their own ideas.
That was why someone reading a spirit user's thoughts would normally also see the thoughts that the spirit user was using to control their spirits.
But Seongchan was different.
I expected something strange, but what is this?
It was almost as though he'd completely abandoned any attempt to control his spirits.
Yet the spirits standing before Thornjer looked perfectly calm.
And something else was even stranger.
When does he think?
Thornjer tried to find Seongchan's thoughts.
One minute passed.
Then two.
The world around Thornjer began looking increasingly distorted.
Finally, he realized something.
He's not thinking?
That was impossible.
While standing right in front of me?
