Chapter 102: It’s real (2)
Translator: miraclerifle
Editor: Borderline Masochist
“Mary, you can’t do that in front of people you don’t know! Sigh.”
Tasha let out a sigh and grabbed Mary’s arm. She then carefully pulled the robe down in order to cover the black lines back up. At the same time, she continued to observe Cale and Choi Han’s expressions. Tasha was holding Mary’s hand tightly.
“This, you see...”
Tasha was unable to hide her anxiety. No, she had been in a state of shock since Raon appeared, but this was more despair than shock.
“Tasha.”
Cale looked right into Tasha’s eyes and calmed her down.
“I don’t plan to tell anybody so do not worry. We are already all in the same boat.”
Tasha closed her mouth that had been repeatedly opening and closing without making a noise. She remembered what Alberu had said about Cale.
‘Auntie, he may be rude, but he keeps his word. I can’t trust him, but I can at least rely on the bastard.’
In the end, it meant that Alberu trusted Cale, even if he would not directly say that. Tasha started to agree with Alberu the longer she interacted with Cale.
At that moment, Mary started to speak.
“I will also not speak about Dragon-nim. Since I cannot make a vow of Elementals, I will vow with my life instead.”
Cale had a small smile on his face that quickly disappeared. He should not have to worry about Raon’s secret because she put her life on the line.
Tasha then heard her grandfather starting to speak.
“Young master Cale, do you know about necromancers?”
“I know as much as any other person.”
Well, he knew more than the average person based on what he had read in the novel.
Necromancers referred to people who used dead mana to control dead creatures to fight. They also had scars on their bodies that were impossible to hide, even with magic.
Just like Mary’s arm they just saw, their entire body is covered with black veins that look like spider webs.
The black spiderweb human.
It was the side effect of using dead mana that living beings should not be able to use. That might have been another reason that the necromancers were hunted down, in addition to their use of corpses to fight.
‘They were deemed to be useless.’
But there were no useless occupations in the world.
Everything had a time and place that they would be useful.
“My name is Mary.”
Mary started to speak again.
“I am twenty-five this year.”
She introduced herself following Raon’s style. Cale quietly listened while Raon was looking at the black robe with curiosity.
“I have lived in this City of Life for the past 15 years. I remember running away into the desert with my family when I was 10 years old.”
The necromancer Mary was, as expected, one of the people who ran away from the village.
“That is the only thing I remember.”
‘Hmm?’
Cale was not able to understand what she meant right away.
“We found Mary 15 years ago on the day the dead mana rose to the surface.”
Cale turned his head to see Shawn continuing to speak with a stiff expression.
“I was the one who found her.”
Shawn recalled what had happened 15 years ago.
“As we mentioned before, dead mana rises into the Land of Death twice a year. We go up to the surface every night when we know that the time is near in order to quickly bring down any humans who are running away into the desert. Since most of them are malnourished, even the slightest amount of dead mana can be critical.”
“But we cannot get everyone.”
Tasha started to frown as she added on. Tasha was there when Shawn found Mary.
“15 years ago was when the highest amount of dead mana came up to the Land of Death. It was the most we have ever seen in the past few hundred years, at about twenty times the norm.”
“Mm.”
Cale could imagine what it was like, as well as how Mary had become a necromancer. He then started to speak.
“That must have been where you found Miss Mary.”
She was found in the Land of Death with twenty times the normal amount of dead mana, when even the smallest amount would be deadly for humans.
“Yes. She had absorbed a significant amount of dead mana by the time we found her.”
“But she managed to survive?”
Shawn tried to answer, but someone else answered first. It was Mary.
“Yes. I managed to survive, even though it was extremely painful.”
Cale could not sense any emotion in Mary even though she was saying it was painful.
The mayor stayed in his office while Tasha and Shawn led the way for Cale’s group. Choi Han was naturally standing right behind Cale, while the necromancer Mary stood next to Choi Han, quietly walking with her robe dragging on the ground.
“Mary.”
The hood of black robe raised when Mary turned her head and looked up at Cale. Cale asked as he continued to walk at a casual pace.
“Can you make me an arm?”
“Do you mean an arm for the human body?”
Cale gently answered her emotionless question.
“Yes. A left arm.”
“Do you need it for something?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I understand. I will make it for you.”
Cale looked toward Mary, who did not ask about compensation or a reward, and asked.
“What is it you want to see in the human world?”
Shawn and Tasha flinched at his question. Mary answered without any hesitation.
“I am not sure.”
Mary really did not know.
“I cannot imagine the human world since I have no memories of it and have only read about it in books. But I feel like there will be a lot of things I would want to see once I get there.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
Cale agreed with Mary’s logic. How could you want to see something specifically if you didn’t know what was there? Maybe she’ll know what she wants to see once she goes to the surface.
At that moment, Raon started to speak in Cale’s mind.
- I understand that feeling.
There was nothing Raon wanted to see while he was in that cave for 4 years. It was because he had not seen anything yet. He just wanted to be free. There was nothing else he was looking forward to.
- She is an amazing human.
Raon continued to praise the necromancer Mary since earlier.
- She seems like a good person.
It was Raon’s appeal to Cale that he wanted her to go with them. He wanted her to see the world.
- Of course, she is not as good as you, weak human. But she is like us. She is a good person and has managed to live through such pain. She is an amazing human.
Cale pretended not to hear Raon, as usual.
Two days later, Cale was laying down on a couch in the restaurant of the inn while staring up at the ceiling.
“This is no joke.”
Ruuuuuumble.
A loud noise accompanied what felt like an earthquake. However, it was not too severe.
“Young master-nim, it looks like the dead mana is about to rise.”
“Seems that way.”
Cale took a sip of the lemonade Ron handed him. This underground city even had lemons. They had every kind of fruit down here.
Beacrox made some ice cream and put it on the table in front of Cale and the invisible Raon. The innkeeper was looking at Beacrox like he really wanted to hire Beacrox as the inn’s chef.
- I am getting restless!
Cale ignored Raon and looked toward the inn door.
“Beacrox, go bring me another cup of lemonade.”
“Excuse me?”
“Young master-nim, I will do it.”
Beacrox asked in confusion, while Ron stepped up to say that he would do it. They heard a small bell chiming as someone entered the inn.
“Ron, you sit down.”
It was a person completely covered in a black robe. Mary had entered the inn to visit Cale and walked over toward him without any hesitation.
“Beacrox, go bring a cup of lemonade for our guest.”
Beacrox looked toward the completely covered person with confusion. Cale continued to speak to help Beacrox understand.
“This is the person who will make your father a new arm.”
Beacrox stiffened up. Even Ron, who had his usual benign smile, couldn’t help but change expressions.
Cale looked toward the black robe in front of him and got right to the point.
“Mary.”
Cale liked free things, money, and taking things from people, but he was not a full-on scam artist. He, as Kim Rok Soo, believed that he needed to appropriately reward people who did good things for him.
Cale planned to give such a reward to the person who would make a new arm for the dual dagger wielding assassin, Ron. She deserved a good reward for helping out one of his people.
“I will give you a place to stay for 6 months.”
- Alright! Good job, weak human!
Raon shouted in Cale’s mind.