novelraw Chapter 122 : Learning the Correct Way to Use the Profound Other (9)
Chapter 122 : Learning the Correct Way to Use the Profound Other (9)
One day, a child was born in Tianzhu. And as if by coincidence, on the day the child was born, a star fell from the sky to the ground.
Some said she was cursed, and some said she was blessed by the star. Opinions were divided, but the village chief, saying she was blessed by the star, gave the child the name 'Fatima'.
Perhaps because of that, Fatima had an excellent ability to read the stars since she was young.
Whether it was because of that or not, there was one more thing Fatima was better at than others, and that was fortune-telling.
Especially, the astrology she performed by looking at the stars had never been wrong even once.
Fatima was living as a nomad, moving from village to village.
Fatima, as usual, stopped by a village and was planning to stay for a few days, telling people's fortunes. In the meantime, a group of bandits raided the village.
Although it was daytime and she couldn't perform astrology, Fatima simply cast a fortune.
She took out the fortune-telling tube from her bosom and picked one of the long sticks inside. It said 'Great Luck'.
Although not as good as astrology, her general fortune-telling was also quite accurate. Therefore, Fatima had a rather high level of trust in her own fortunes.
Since it said 'Great Luck', she believed that she would not die today.
A moment later, Fatima saw the village guards running.
Usually, there were almost no villages in the desert with such guards.
Because the desert is barren. The reason was water. However, this village was located next to an oasis, so it was able to prosper greatly.
Naturally, people gather where there is water, and since they were people who had lived in a barren environment, they cultivated their strength to protect this place.
She did not doubt that the guards would soon defeat the bandits. Above all, the fortune had come out well.
But soon, screams erupted from all sides.
People were busy running away somewhere, and behind them, figures covered in cloth were relentlessly chasing them and swinging their swords.
Fatima looked for the guards, but they were nowhere to be seen.
The village was thoroughly ravaged by the bandits.
Fatima felt a wave of anxiety wash over her. Although her fortunes were rarely wrong, it wasn't that they were never wrong. Of course, this was a trade secret from the people.
Fatima hid herself in the luggage container of a nearby camel, and the camel ran away in the chaos. In the meantime, Fatima lost consciousness.
The fact that she was alive now coincided with the fact that her fortune was not wrong.
However, she did not think that the current situation was 'Great Luck' at all.
The very slight deviation that sometimes occurred had happened at this very moment.
Fatima turns her head to the side. There was a woman with a slightly different appearance from Tianzhu, but who was beautiful even to her, who had a different perspective on beauty. For some reason, she felt like she could get along well with this woman.
When she turned her head to the other side, a muscular man was grinning. His appearance was not bad enough to be looked down on anywhere. A feeling of nothing more and nothing less.
From Fatima's perspective, the only flaw was that he had too many muscles.
Fatima now stared straight ahead with trembling eyes. The source of all this situation and the root of evil was visible.
"You were a fortune-teller?"
"To be more precise, I am an astrologer!"
"If you're a fortune-teller, you're a fortune-teller, what's an astrologer? Are you dissing me for being ignorant from the first meeting? Mad Demon."
"Yeah! Captain!"
"One more shichen."
Fatima had only answered the question she was asked. But that evil demon was trying to persecute her again. Fatima looked at her legs with fearful eyes. She had never been like this while living as a nomad, but they were trembling even when she was standing still. What was certain was that if she did the horse stance any longer here, she might become a cripple for life.
Fatima answered again.
"I am a fortune-teller!"
"Right? That's right?"
"Yes! That's right!"
"See? You could have done it right from the beginning, so why go around in circles? Our fortune-teller."
"It's because I'm from Tianzhu and I'm not familiar with the culture of the Central Plains!"
"I know. I can understand that much."
Among these three, the most vicious one was this bastard.
Of the two camels that were standing.
'I should have ridden the camel next to me!'
She had clearly seen the camel next to the one she was on run in the opposite direction from inside the luggage container.
"But why was your tone like that before?"
"T-That's because in Tianzhu, the profession of a fortune-teller is held in quite high regard."
"Hmm... for that, you don't seem to be very good at predicting your own fate?"
"Hehe. Fortune-telling is ultimately a matter of luck. Sometimes it's wrong."
"Then, you're not a fortune-teller, but a swindler."
"Hehe. I'm right more often."
"Are you laughing?"
"I wasn't laughing!"
"Right. Don't laugh without my permission. It'll be a big problem if we get attached. Isn't that right? For your information, I'm also from a family of swindlers. My dad was a gambler. We seem to have something in common?"
A fortune-teller is one of the prestigious professions in Tianzhu.
How dare a commoner from a gambler's family!
Unlike her heart, Fatima smiled brightly, bowed her waist deeply, and answered.
"As expected, you are amazing!"
The man glanced at Fatima.
"See? As expected, you're a swindler."
Fatima was wronged, but she hated doing the horse stance more. She just went along with it.
"Then, you must know the geography here well?"
"I've lived in the desert since I was young, so I know the desert like the back of my hand. If necessary, I can find the way by looking at the stars."
"Alright, alright. We needed a guide right now!"
For an outsider to come to the desert without a guide, and moreover, without a camel, the only means of transportation, was a new type of suicide method that Fatima, who had spent her entire life in the desert, had never seen before.
"Where are the heroes from the Central Plains going?"
"We're going to Tianzhu!"
Fatima tilted her head for a moment.
"Excuse me, hero?"
"Hero is too much of a compliment, just call me Jae-ha."
"Yes, Jae-ha-nim."
"Yeah. So?"
"Tianzhu is in the opposite direction."
"Huh?"
"If you go this way, there's only desert."
At the man's dejected expression, Fatima felt a momentary sense of relief.
＊
The size of Tianzhu is as vast as one-third of the Central Plains. However, half of it was a land where people could not live, consisting of deserts or strange rock formations. Perhaps because of such an environment in Tianzhu, the people here showed a tendency to be fanatically obsessed with beings that transcended humans.
The most prominent feature of this was that, unlike other countries, Tianzhu did not have a king.
Instead, Tianzhu had a god in the concept of religion.
Buddha.
In the language of Tianzhu, it means the enlightened one, the one who has opened his eyes, and in Buddhism, the religion that permeates Tianzhu, it also means the one who has attained nirvana and repeats reincarnation.
A huge temple is built in the middle of the desert.
The sight of the temple standing alone in a place with no living creatures around was bizarre at first glance, but the sight of numerous people bowing towards the temple below was even reverent.
At the highest point of the temple, a single man was sitting.
It turned out that the object of the people's prostrations below was this man.
Such a man had a bored expression even while looking at the scene below, where people were showing him an indescribable reverence.
As if this were a matter of course.
At first glance, he also looked as if he had been liberated from all the desires of this world.
Just then, a huge sound that was loud enough to echo throughout the entire temple was heard.
It was simply the sound of a door opening. However, the size of the door was so huge that it would take ten strong men to open it.
In an instant, the people who were praying became quiet as if by agreement.
A person in a dharma robe who had opened the huge door alone gracefully passes through the people. He runs up the stairs of the huge temple and prostrates himself before the one who looks down on all these people.
At that moment, for the first time, an emotion was revealed on the man's face. It was a very faint interest.
"Did you catch the astrologer?"
"I apologize. I missed her."
"Then, did you catch that damn old man?"
"I apologize. I haven't even found a trace of him yet."
"I see. You know what you have to do now, right?"
"Yes, sir!"
The man who had answered by hitting his head on the ground raised the sword he was holding high into the sky.
Clang!
The sun shone on the sword. The man, uttering the name of the only god he believed in, plunged the sword into his own neck.
"O Buddha. May you enjoy infinite light and blessings!"
Thud!
The blood that flowed from the man's body flows down the temple stairs.
Starting from that moment, the thousands of people who were praying below all rush to the temple at once.
The people do not hesitate to use any means to be covered in a single drop of blood.
In the meantime, it was common for them to take each other's lives.
If there is a hell on earth, wouldn't it be a scene like this?
When the blood in the pandemonium dried up in the hot sun, the people returned to their places and offered the same prayers as before.
As if nothing had happened.
The man who had been watching all this from above points to one of the people below.
It was the one who had been covered in the most blood earlier.
"You. Come up."
The person who was pointed out climbed the temple stairs with an ecstatic expression.
"State your name."
"It's Garam."
"Alright, Garam. From now on, you will continue the mission. I will grant you the position of high priest."
"Garam, the servant of God. I accept the command of Buddha."
"You shall not disappoint me like the previous servant."
"Yes, sir!"
Garam gracefully descends the temple. From his appearance, it could be seen that his martial arts were quite high. The man leaned back deeply into his chair with an indifferent expression again.
"Kee-roo-roo!"
A hawk was gliding in the sky of the temple. The man said in a voice that only he could hear.
"Find it."
The hawk circled the sky and then flew off somewhere. A moment later.
Countless crows, whose origin was unknown, filled the sky at once.
＊
A dozen or so camels are walking in a line.
Next to them, dozens of people wearing windproof robes were walking.
The one walking at the very front shouted loudly.
"It's a desert wind!"
At that, the person right behind him raised his hand and clenched his fist. The people all stopped in their tracks at once.
The one who had clenched his fist raised his head and looked forward. The wind was blowing in a spiral. Its size was still small, but from his long experience in the desert, he knew better than anyone how huge and terrifying it would become.
The one who had clenched his fist turned his feet in the opposite direction of the spiral wind. Right after, all the people in the group followed the man.
In the sky where they had thus avoided the spiral wind, the desert wind, the sun was heating up the ground with not a single cloud, as if the scene just now had been a mirage.
Just then. The man, who had been walking, suddenly raised his head. The group stopped again.
The man said with a more urgent expression than before.
"Don't stop!"
At the man's words, the people around him repeated his words. The group moved their feet quickly.
However, the man was still standing still and looking up at the sky. Then, a black dot was visible in the sky.
In the eyes of the man who saw it, the emotion of fear quickly appeared and then disappeared.
Soon, the black dot grew in size and took the shape of a bird. That bird fell straight towards the man. Right after that. Countless black dots in the sky, and soon the dots became birds.
The man drew his sword.
"All men, draw your swords."
As soon as the man's words ended, the group also drew their swords.
Thud, thud!
Birds fell from the sky. At first glance, it was like a hidden weapon.
Actually.
Thud!
"Hee-hee!"
The camel died with birds embedded all over its body. Birds poured down from the sky like hidden weapons.
The people swung their swords to strike down the birds.
But it was a case of being outnumbered.
Someone's scream echoed.
"Aaaargh!"
A bird's beak was stuck in someone's eye. As he faltered for a moment, dozens of birds were stuck in him.
"Gurgle."
The man died instantly.
The surprise attack of the birds that had suddenly poured from the sky ended as suddenly as a shower from the sky. As if the birds had never appeared, the sky once again revealed a clear sky without a single cloud.
However, the scene on the ground was no different from a hellscape.
"Unit Leader."
One of the leaders of the group spoke weakly.
"Yes."
The dead crows on the ground were drawing a character as if it were a pre-arranged board.
It was an order, a threat, a surveillance, and a deal.
[Find it.]
The phrase represented by the corpses of the crows.
The man called the Unit Leader was shedding tears of blood as he looked at the scene unfolding before him.
The unit leader of the Mad Wind Unit, Gurat, made a promise to the sacrificed members.
"Let's surely survive and escape from this hell."
On a cactus far away.
A single crow was watching the scene.
Flap.
The crow flew up into the sky.
(End of Chapter)