chapter 11
11. The Cursed Woman
11. Cursed woman
Midnight night with a crescent moon.
An oriental warrior walks in the dark.
Stones rattled in the bag as they were tossed and received in a regular rhythm, making pleasant sounds.
Tup!
As the warrior’s feet enter the alleyway, the clatter stops.
Yoosung smiled lightly when he saw a man wearing a robe.
‘It hasn’t gone yet and remains well.’
Standing in front of a man who was dozing on a board, Yooseong grabbed his left shoulder and shook him awake.
“Hut.”
“If you sleep in a place like this, your pockets will all be robbed.”
“Cow, I can’t calm down after losing something precious. So what happened?”
“I brought the stolen item.”
The man’s eyes widened.
“Already?”
“Please check.”
A man hurriedly checks the inside after handing over a pouch containing a gemstone.
Seeing that nothing was lost and it was properly stored, he smiled as if he was relieved.
“Mmm, good. You got it right.”
“Then, the promised reward.”
“Hey guys, listen carefully to what I have to say. For you who have come a long way from a foreign country, this will be the biggest reward above all else.”
Shook!
The man quickly dodged.
“Don’t believe what strangers say in the Empire! Ha ha ha!”
While shouting that, he disappears without looking back.
[ Obtained 45 experience aggregates. ]
“Big.”
A moment of laughter came out.
The first time I was beaten in a game, I was dumbfounded, but when I actually got hit, I was speechless.
‘This is worse than I thought. Should I stop?’
Umji got to the point of pushing the back of his nose, but Yooseong just held back and turned his back.
As you progress through the story, you will meet that man again.
At that time, you can take revenge and reap significant benefits.
I wondered if the same event would happen here, but…….
Anyway, I will find it later and return it tenfold.
Because I remembered your face.
Yooseong was a very narrow-minded person.
–
Stage 3 of the entrance exam was conducted over a total of 4 days.
In the game, these four days are defined as a tutorial, and by doing various sub-quests, you learn the game style with rewards.
In the case of games, users skip the test part because they have already taken the test.
Yoosung had to watch the test in real time with both eyes open, which was not very interesting from morning to evening.
‘Is there no skip function for this… ….’
Could it be?
I spent a fair amount of time bruising.
“Tester No. 221, Yeon Hwa Ran! Come up to the arena!”
At that time, I heard words that suddenly lifted Yooseong’s spirit.
One of the playable characters was caught in sparring.
Climbing up the arena is a large, muscular man and a girl riding a wooden horse on top of him.
From the outside, I wonder if he was fourteen at most.
A cute girl with light green dumpling hair wearing what looked like a training cheongsam jumped down and bowed her belly button to her judge.
“Hello.”
Then, the male side of the giant also bowed at the same time.
The article was greeted with disdain.
“Uh…… Okay. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m from the Empire. I’ve lived in Qing for a long time, so I’m not good at words. This is my zombie friend that I control. Hey, Necromancer. I got permission. Permission, I write.”
“Hmm. I know, so don’t worry.”
“Thank you.”
Yeonhwaran was a combination character.
The killing doll ‘Stuart’ was born from the combination of the Jiangshi recipe from the shadows of the Qing Dynasty and imperial necromancy.
Yeon Hwa-ran, whose soul is connected to him, trains qigong separately to resonate with Stuart’s remaining ego and fight together.
From necromancy to Jiangshi recipe to qigong technique.
Listening to it, I feel like a young girl has learned a lot from running around here and there.
Clearly, she was a genius right from the start.
If he had dug into something clearly, he would have been great.
But Yeonhwaran had only one purpose.
It was to see Stuart, his own father, fully regain his self and smiling.
The reason why he wants to enter the academy is just to absorb the knowledge after hearing that there is a great necromancer as an instructor.
Usually in fantasy novels, learning a necromancer is considered taboo and portrayed as an axis of evil.
However, the worldview of Wizardry Caliber was slightly different.
It is a crime to recklessly learn necromancy and raise a large number of dead people, but it doesn’t matter if you properly register your identity with the Empire and use authorized corpses.
Yeonhwaran is just such a category.
She was a necromancer fighter who, unusually, synchronized the movements of herself and her Servant with resonance, a characteristic of her qigong technique.
The setting was hip, so I used to do Yoosung often.
“Necromancer? You mean that’s a zombie? Do you look very human?”
Anise said to Yooseong as if she was curious.
“I will. It’s amazing.”
Yoosung didn’t bother pretending to know.
“That’s the river.”
Because Shohei, who likes to pretend she knows, will tell you everything.
“Jiangshi?”
“It is similar to necromancy, but the texture is completely different. If necromancy mainly draws on the power of the soul, Jiangxi only strengthens the body to the limit without the medium of the soul, and simply moves according to the signal.”
“But that kid introduces himself as a necromancer.”
“Yes. Certainly, that Jiangshi is a bit strange. The external characteristics are definitely Jiangxi, but Qigong…… So it looks like mana is wrapped around the skin. That’s the hallmark of necromancy. How did you combine it with qigong? ….”
Even Shohei didn’t know exactly.
It deserves it.
According to the setting, Stuart was a being close to a miracle created by fatherly love.
“Both sides prepare for battle!”
While Shohei and Anise are talking, sparring is about to begin.
Yeon Hwa-ran’s opponent is an aristocratic swordsman from an ordinary-looking family.
“Suck.”
As soon as the test started, the prosecutor stepped towards Yeonhwaran and tried to approach it quickly.
When dealing with a necromancer, it is a standard way of dealing with a Servant, prioritizing the main body rather than the object controlled by the necromancer.
But that’s only when the level is the same.
Blame.
At the same time Yeon Hwa-ran lightly stepped back, Stuart appeared in front of the prosecutor as if teleporting.
Tight….
Then Yeon Hwa-ran clenched her fist and swung it wide.
Stuart copied the motion and attacked the prosecutor.
“Kuu!”
In the end, the prosecutor had no choice but to back off instead of closing the distance.
“Ohh!”
Seeing that, Anis widened her eyes in admiration.
“Awesome! When a girl swings her fist in the air, doesn’t the Servant do the same?”
“It’s not an ordinary fist. Even with Jiangshi’s powerful body, Qigong is clearly contained. The more I look at it, the more amazing it is.”
Almost everyone is interested in Yeonhwaran.
Even the ordinary swordsman tried to do something to see if he was aware of it, but in the end he was blocked by Stuart and lost without being able to do anything.
Perhaps it was because of the huge difference in skill level, there were no injuries and it was a boring sparring.
However, the existence of Yeonhwaran must have been embedded in the minds of many people.
‘At that level, I’m sure you will pass. There doesn’t seem to be anything unfortunate about a playable character not passing the test.’
Yuseong, who was thinking that way, instantly felt an intense stare piercing him.
I wanted something, so I looked and saw Yeon Hwa-ran staring at me very intently.
‘Do you have something to say to me? I’m sure you’re seeing me.’
But Yeonhwaran just stared at her for about two more seconds before going down with her Servant.
Yooseong took out the relationship chart and looked at it, but there was no change either.
What was she thinking?
–
Day 3.
It was in the middle of the exam, but Meteor was out on the city streets.
‘I was going to watch it anyway…… It would be better to just train or do sub-quests during that time.’
It was a virtue, not a necessity, to watch the other test takers fight after completing her turn.
Besides the playable characters, there were a few fights worth paying attention to, but I know most of them, so what’s the matter?
So I broke out in the middle.
When she was in high school, she felt good about being cut.
She said, ‘Before she even entered the academy, she felt like she was back in school. It’s profitable.’
Now is the time outside of the story.
That’s why it’s not implemented in the game.
Nevertheless, this world is expressed in very detailed places.
People who quietly live their days in their place.
A rippling fountain.
Even the appearance of a flock of flying birds.
If you come here, who will say that this is not real?
‘It’s nice to be quiet.’
Since the entrance exam was in full swing, there was not much traffic outside the city, and the sound of water and birds could be heard softly, and it was quite peaceful.
‘I need to sunbathe for a while… ….’
I haven’t been able to afford it lately.
Yuseong closed his eyes and felt the sun, enjoying his leisure time.
“…… Well.”
Then I fell asleep for a while.
How much time has passed?
Looking around, it was still bright.
But, there was something incredibly striking nearby.
A large battle ax worn on the back and black armor peeking through the robe that covers the whole body.
Looking at it that far, I wonder if he’s just a normal person wearing a robe over armor…….
From the inside of the covered hood, the bizarre black-colored thorn stems are captured wriggling and moving as if they were alive.
The only thing exposed was the pupils and the lower part of the philtrum.
No matter how you look at it, she doesn’t look ordinary, but Yooseong was familiar with her.
‘Yulia.’
One of the playable characters.
The daughter of a count family, she is an active adventurer who likes to deviate, and even at a young age, she used to visit her various places.
Then, 7 years ago, she found a hidden ruin and went to explore it, but after being cursed by a thorny vine, it didn’t come off, so she ended up being called a monster knight.
The shock of her transformation from a girl loved by everyone to an abomination hated by everyone constantly shattered her self-esteem and threw her bottom into the abyss.
I wonder if everyone is like that.
If you look in the mirror, there is something gross that gives off a sinister feeling on your face, and people who see it look at you as if you are seeing a disgusting monster.
Thinking that her existence itself was a nuisance to her family, her family also left the house on their own, and she was now a woman of misfortune who had no saint and was only called a cursed black knight.
She is quite a celebrity in the Empire, and she has a great respect for Cruella because of one instance where she was once talked about being expelled, but she dismissed Cruella as saying that there was no problem.
Why do you see her here…….
She said, ‘As soon as she had the exam, she came out.’
Julia hates crowded places.
It is natural.
Wherever she goes, she sees only people who shun her and look at her with disgust.
She wanted to enter the academy because Cruella suggested it, and if it wasn’t for that, she wouldn’t even go anywhere near it.
I just ignored her moderately, but I felt her coming towards her.
It looks like he wants to talk.
It was quite rare for her to come to talk first, as she was reluctant to interact with people.
‘I think I know why.’
Her meteor rose and faced her.
Yulia cautiously took off her hood and said hesitantly.
“I’m sorry if I woke you up. I’m clueless…… I don’t know how far away I have to stand so I don’t get in the way.”
“No. I slept well and woke up. I didn’t even know you were standing there until I woke up.”
“I see. I’m glad…….”
Most of her face was covered, but her emotions could be seen in her rolling amethyst eyes.
Yulia, who wields a huge ax resolutely and without mercy, as if she has no emotion in front of an enemy she is supposed to defeat, becomes a coward when she stands in front of someone who is not her enemy.
“I’m sorry for giving off an ominous vibe, but there is something I want to ask you.”
“You can say anything.”
“You…… Are you really blind? Is it the appearance or something that you can’t distinguish at all?”
“If you were to live in complete darkness, I would say no, but at least it doesn’t differentiate humans by their appearance.”
“That, is it? Then.”
Yulia hesitated and finally brought her words out.
“You see…… How do I look?”
In the game story, Yulia said this to Yuseong.
She didn’t ask this simply because she was blind, but the fact that she was blind and from a foreign country in the far East had a big effect.
Yoosung, this blind swordsman, but this guy with no romance at all, just said that the gaze he sees is no different from that of ordinary people.
If you raise your favorability later, other options will come out, but basically, that was the case.
“Ah! This is, by no means, a question I ask for fellowship. Because I’m a bit, a peculiar person, in terms of appearance…… Out of pure intent…….”
“I know.”
“Oh, I’m glad you noticed.”
Yoosung took off his sunglasses for the build-up.
Seemingly blind to anyone, he showed his dead eyes as if to prove his innocence, controlling his mood.
“Would you like me to tell you the truth without adding or subtracting?”
Yulia flinched at Yoosung’s serious attitude, but soon she too nodded her head with serious eyes.
“…… Okay.”
Yooseong thought about what to say.
‘I just passed the meteor in the game carelessly, but I can’t do that either. Let him thoroughly beat the romance and clichés.’
The combination of a woman who thinks she is ugly and a blind man with pure intentions is a steady seller in the romantic subculture world.
To be honest, Yulia has been despised for being ‘ugly and disgusting’, but looking at the game illustration, she wasn’t that disgusting.
First of all, she’s pretty with her black and purple hair, and just looking at her eyes and slightly exposed lower lip, you can tell she’s quite a beauty.
Even when it became a reality, it wasn’t much different. Even if it looked like a half-monster to ordinary people, in the eyes of the player, Yuseong, it was just a beautiful woman whose face was covered by thorny vines.
‘Let’s go with this.’
Yooseong opened her mouth.
“I am blind, but I can grasp the approximate shape of objects in my mind’s eye. You can also tell that you are covered in armor, that you have a large battle ax strapped to your back, and that you have an irregular tangle of thorns covering your face.”
“I see…… If so, she didn’t even have to ask.”
Her disappointment puts her next words to her as she tries to turn around.
“But I don’t place any value on that kind of appearance.”
“Value… What do you not let go of?”
“Seeing. Feeling the sight is called ‘stimulation’, isn’t it? Things like how other people’s appearances are doing can’t stimulate me. It’s just ‘getting it’.”
Yoosung raised her right arm and placed her palm over her heart.
The heart is the heart.
In other words, it was a gesture pointing to the heart.
“It is this side that excites me.”
“The heart…… ?”
“Yes. I judge people by this. When you look at it with your mind’s eye, you get a glimpse of what kind of personality that person has and how he or she has lived.”
Yuseong paused for a moment before she brought out her words, which could be called the main dish.
“That’s how I see it…… You are really beautiful.”
“!”
Yulia froze in surprise when she heard that, her eyes wide open.
It’s not like time has stopped, but it’s to the point of misunderstanding that time has stopped.
“Ah… ….”
Then she let out a brief sigh—
“―Oh!”
She turned and ran away.
It’s okay… Well….
The sound of her running hard resonated in Yooseong’s ears.
‘I didn’t expect you to run away right away.’
Did she overdo it in her first meeting?
Yuseong thought about that and opened the compensation window for her relationship.
[ Relationship Reward ]
! Julia
Julia thinks you are special.
Lv. 2 Can receive 1 gift
The system says otherwise.