Master of All Sins

Chapter 13 : The Sorcerer and the Priest - 4

“Oh my, young master. How can you go around with something on you like this.”

The one-sidedly fierce battle and the thankfully sincere conversation and negotiation on both sides, had safely concluded.

Geum Mo-a, who had already changed back into her original attire, approached Shin Hwe-in to resume her role as a handmaiden, as if intending to treat what had just happened as if it never occurred.

“Yes, thank you─.”

“A mischievous trick.”

Perhaps it was because I was off guard, having seen her return completely to her usual self, but I couldn't stop Geum Mo-a from reaching for my chest.

Lightly putting her hand inside my undergarments and taking out the Indulgence, she giggled as she watched my eyes fill with shock and betrayal, then she took one of my hands and slowly placed it back on my palm.

“Look, young master. This talisman can probably only be reactivated by accumulating a considerable amount of karma or by infusing it with the demonic energy of a powerful monster, but if you offer the blood of the person who cursed you, like this…….”

After she finished speaking, she cut her own palm and let a few drops of bright red blood fall onto the talisman.

The three characters for Indulgence engraved on the talisman shone with a brilliant light, revealing the red thread connecting Shin Hwe-in and Geum Mo-a even more clearly.

Immediately after, Shin Hwe-in felt the throbbing pain in his upper abdomen, which had visited him intermittently, completely disappear.

My stomach, which had never been comfortable, felt quite at ease.

I was also pleased that my available spiritual power had increased again.

It was still a bit touch-and-go, but at this level, wouldn't it be acceptable to officially call myself a sorcerer?

Seeing my expression relax, Geum Mo-a spoke in a prim tone as if it were no big deal.

“Your liver is normal now, young master. Since you've taken some of my power, you should be able to detoxify most poisons with ease. You won't get drunk even if you drink a mal (about 18 liters) of alcohol.”

“……Mo-a.”

“Hmph, don't you dare think my curse ends with just this. I've only released a part of it, just a part. Since we made a three-year pact, it's just enough not to interfere with it.”

Her words brought home the fresh realization that the handmaiden who had always been with me was, in fact, one of the culprits who had made my body sick, and I couldn't help but burst into an empty laugh.

“So, what sin did my past self commit against you to deserve such a curse?”

“You're curious, aren't you? The reason why not only me, but many other high-rank beings all cursed you, young master. Just how on earth could you earn the terrible resentment of so many powerful individuals at once.”

“I am very curious. ……But at the same time, it is a record of an original sin I cannot accept. So it seems it would be better not to hear it.”

The term original sin has two meanings.

One is the original sin discussed in Christianity─the sin that humans are said to possess from birth.

The other is the Sino-Korean word used in Fire country – unjust sin, meaning a crime one has been falsely accused of.

Coincidentally, both of these applied to Shin Hwe-in.

“Huhu…… you can't avoid it just by pretending not to know, but on the other hand, it won't do you any good to know now either. So let's take it slowly and I'll tell you one by one when the time comes.”

If Geum Mo-a herself was calling them ‘high-rank beings’, there must be a secret hidden beyond anything I could imagine.

Even though my liver had just gotten better, my stomach started to ache again and I shook my head.

“I hope you will undo the curse completely with your own hands before that time comes.”

“Oh my, they say an easy woman has no charm. I want to always be a woman who is difficult for you, young master, but one who incites a desire for conquest.”

“……Is that so, I'm relieved to hear that.”

Replying with sincerity as I tucked the Indulgence back into my clothes, I ignored the utterly venomous expression Geum Mo-a made upon hearing my words and spoke.

“Let's go now. We can't keep Father Lucas waiting for too long.”

“Ack, are you really planning to move with that suspicious fellow? If you're looking for something to do outside, I could act as your representative.”

Her dislike for the priest was the same even now that she was back to being Geum Mo-a, she said with disgust, but Shin Hwe-in shook his head firmly.

“It has already been decided. Besides, I just told you I would show you a different side of me. Are you telling me to rely on you right away?”

“Tsk…… In that case, you certainly can't go out looking like this.”

“Ah.”

When Geum Mo-a took out a hand mirror and showed me, I couldn't help but nod at my own stark appearance reflected within it.

My overcoat was burned and gone and the clothes I wore underneath were tattered and filthy from rolling on the ground multiple times.

To make matters worse, under my clothes, half-torn and burnt bandages were wrapped around my entire body, including my face.

It felt like a miracle that Father Lucas hadn't immediately judged me to be a monster.

“This is troublesome.”

“I'll try to clean the clothes, so in the meantime, you should take off the bandages, young master. Their effect has probably worn off by now anyway, and your skin isn't so weak anymore, right?”

“That… I suppose so.”

Even as I nodded at Geum Mo-a's words, I felt quite flustered.

Take off the bandages?

I had to if I didn't want to reveal my identity, but I found it so unfamiliar and frightening that I couldn't bear it.

From birth, my skin had been overly fragile and covered in inflammation, so my body had never been without bandages, not only when going outside but even when staying indoors.

But… I had to take them off.

The curse of the burning bird had been alleviated three times one way or another and the inflammation on my skin was now almost nonexistent.

There was no reason to wear bandages anymore, and if I didn't take them off, the skin underneath would remain unexposed and forever fragile.

“Ugh…….”

Still, I couldn't hide my inner fear and shut my eyes tightly.

I slowly, slowly, unwrapped the bandages.

The parts around my fingertips were already as good as gone, so it was quite easy to remove them.

But when I touched the bandages covering my face to take them off, Geum Mo-a, who had approached at some point, wrapped them back on and said.

“No, not the face.”

“What nonsense is this? The face is the most noticeable part.”

“That's why I'm saying it. Ugh, I thought it would be fine since there are still many curses left, but……”

Geum Mo-a, who had been spouting incomprehensible words, reluctantly unwrapped the bandages as if she had no choice.

She then meticulously examined my face as if checking something, then said with a sulky expression.

“I suppose there's no choice. You can learn the transformation arts to slightly alter your face, young master, and then we'll cover it with a mask I've prepared.”

Shin Hwe-in's eyes widened slightly at the words ‘transformation arts’.

Although these days sorcerers used them without much distinction, it was actually a domain closer to Daoist arts than sorcery .

As such, many of its principles were more profound than sorcery and since enlightenment was especially emphasized, it was difficult to learn and train in.

“It's true that my bare face might be known, so it's better to be thorough, but I've heard that transformation arts are selective. Isn't it a special Daoist art that only figures like the famous Usa of the Jeon Clan can use?”

“Are you talking about the art of disguise? What he uses is closer to illusion arts and sleight of hand. But you have likely gained the aptitude for true transformation arts, young master. Because my curse has been lifted.”

“……Ah.”

Remembering that Geum Mo-a had been flawlessly transformed just a moment ago, Shin Hwe-in nodded.

I had been half-convinced until now, but it seemed I now knew for sure what kind of monster Geum Mo-a was.

“Then… I know I just spoke brazenly, but it's shameless of me now, but could you teach me the transformation arts?”

“Of course. I would have been angry if you had refused to accept even this much help from me.”

Geum Mo-a asserted that since transformation arts were a basic skill for a handmaiden, learning them would be no problem at all.

While thinking that becoming a handmaiden must be quite difficult, Shin Hwe-in said.

“Before that, give me back my clothes.”

“Yes, I've made them clean for you here.”

“……Hmm?”

Taking the clothes, I saw that not only the appearance but also the material seemed vastly different from what I had given Geum Mo-a earlier.

What I originally wore was a modified hanbok commonly worn by the family members, but the clothes Geum Mo-a returned to me were black cotton pants and a white Western-style top…… a shirt.

“Mo-a, haven't the clothes been changed?”

“Huhu, young master. Do you think just transforming will be enough? In this day and age, only the old…… members of prestigious families walk around outside in modified hanboks. So I cast a spell on the clothes to change them into something young people commonly wear, so you can just wear them as they are, young master.”

“Transformation arts can do such things, how surprising……. But it's still too unfamiliar.”

But if I avoided something just because it was new, I'd be left with nothing but the old, so I had no choice but to try.

I squeezed my eyes shut and put on the pants and shirt.

I was surprised at how comfortable they were, more so than I had imagined.

……Perhaps the clothes I had worn until now had just been uncomfortable.

– That perverted bitch, seriously, whimper!

“Damn dog, you're really going to die if you keep that up?”

“Ah, this is.”

They couldn't hold back and were growling at each other again, but my attention was elsewhere at the moment.

It was good that I had completely shed my old appearance by taking off all the bandages and putting on modern attire, but I realized that a newly acquired feature was getting in the way.

“The Gatekeeper's Seal…… it's on the back of both hands, making it even more conspicuous. I can hide the back of my hands, but if I meet people from the other Eight Families of White Blood, it might be detected.”

“That's alright, I can hide it for you! Once you become proficient in the transformation arts, you'll be able to do it on your own, young master.”

Geum Mo-a, who had quickly settled the hierarchy with Fire tail and returned, took both of his hands and rubbed the area where the seal was engraved on the back of his hands with her fingers.

Doing so didn't make the seal disappear, but strangely, the aura it emitted seemed to have vanished completely.

“Your transformation arts can really do anything.”

“Not anything, just what I can do. I can't hide the seal itself right now, can I.”

The reason, she said, was that the Gatekeeper's Seal was created by someone of a higher rank than Geum Mo-a.

Shin Hwe-in took the parts of the bandages he had just unwrapped that hadn't lost their efficacy, cut them out and wrapped his hands with them.

Then, I learned the transformation arts from Geum Mo-a and chanted the spell.

For some reason, she was displeased and shouted ‘again’ several times before she barely gave me a passing mark.

“Now, no one will recognize you, young master. But just in case, here's a mask.”

Receiving a plain, featureless white mask, Shin Hwe-in saw that it had no strings or other fastening tools and brought it to his face with a puzzled look.

Then, as if magnets were snapping together, it stuck to his face naturally.

There were no eyeholes, yet my vision became even brighter.

“Is this a Cursed Object ?”

“It's not such a grand item, but it has the ability to block weak curses.”

“Haha and you're giving that to me?”

The same girl who threatened that she wouldn't easily undo all the curses she had placed on him?

Shin Hwe-in chuckled and checked his appearance once more.

Although my face was hidden by a mask and my hands were wrapped in bandages and I was still a cripple, at this rate, no one would recognize me as the worthless youngest son of the Shin Clan.

“Now, if you just had a silk hat, a vest and a frock coat, it would be perfect!”

“No matter how ignorant I am of Western culture, I know what those are. Are you trying to turn me into a gentleman from the Western Demonic Dao Country who just puts on airs?”

“I'm sorry, young master, but that kind of perception is already outdated. You should just wear what you think is nice.”

“Then I'll say it clearly. I hate uncomfortable clothes now.”

“I suppose there's no choice…… Tsk.”

Geum Mo-a, who had given up on grooming Shin Hwe-in to her own taste, pouted and touched her own face.

The change wasn't as dramatic as when she had disguised herself as Hoa, but her features changed slightly, her hair lost its brilliant golden hue and was cut short to shoulder-length, and her eyes also changed from a radiant jade-green to a somewhat dull gray.

That wasn't enough to completely hide her beauty, but when she changed her clothes to a modern suit to match Shin Hwe-in's appearance, it reached a level where no one would think she was Geum Mo-a.

“Why not take Hoa's form?”

“If I stay in that form for too long, I'm afraid you'll forget my original appearance, young master. It makes me jealous.”

“Jealous……. Of what, exactly……?”

I tilted my head at her utterly incomprehensible words, but Geum Mo-a didn't give me much time to think.

“Let's go now! Let's get this priest business over with quickly and go on a cozy trip, just the two of us.”

“The priest is not an enemy and the Fire tail is coming with us.”

“Ack.”

– What, why me? Just leave me here. If I'm a shikigami, you can just summon me when you need me!

Was it because I was preparing to leave the Phantom World that it had been so quiet until now?

To the thunderstruck-looking Fire tail, Shin Hwe-in spoke with a benevolent face.

“The Shin Clan's shikigami arts are also famous for their low spiritual power consumption when maintaining a shikigami. Furthermore, the more time you spend with your shikigami, the more your shikigami arts will progress, so there is no reason to have you remain in the Phantom World.”

– No, no, no. Just imagine a scary and majestic Fire Dog like me loitering around the human world. I feel sorry for the humans who will be scared!

“I'm sorry, Fire tail.”

Shin Hwe-in approached the creature, lifted it into his arms, and told it.

“Your current appearance is nothing more than a very cute puppy.”

– Take that back, what you just said──!

Shin Hwe-in activated the Gatekeeper's Seal to open the exit to the Human World again and threw himself through it with Geum Mo-a.

Despite being a legitimate son of the Shin Clan, I was born a cripple and for 18 years, I lived as a bird in a cage, ignorant of the dangers outside while enduring all sorts of hardships.

Today, I cast away everything I had gained from the Shin Clan and instead shouldered the Gatekeeper's Seal.

I was now finally ready to step out into the world.