Not A Regressor-Chapter 323: Treasure Hunt (2)

With a flash of silver light, Vega appeared and twirled both her arms in the air. “It is I!”

Beside her, Riarc stretched like he was shaking off sleep.

“Today is the day we head for that Black Rock Mine, correct?” Vega asked.

“Yeah. How are the restrictions of the Law?”

“Thanks to resting well in the Sanctum, it has almost completely lifted!” Vega raised her noodle-thin arm and flexed a little bump of muscle the size of an acorn.

She fluttered through the air and landed on Kwon Oh-Jin’s head. “Haha. Sitting here makes me feel like I’ve come home.”

Perched on his head, she gently patted his forehead.

He softly chuckled. “The temple isn’t your home, but my head is?”

“That place... doesn’t feel as warm as this place.”

“Ahem. Really?” Feeling oddly embarrassed by the soft touch on his forehead, Kwon Oh-Jin cleared his throat and turned to Isabella. “You packed everything, right?”

“Yes. I heard the area near the mine is volcanic, so I packed a few cooling items just in case.”

“Cooling items?”

“Here.” Isabella handed him a vest covered in scale-like plates. Each scale had intricate magical runes etched onto it.

“It’s a vest lined with flame-resistant magic. The elder prepared it for us.”

“Really?” Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes lit up as he took it.

Ever since his body reconstruction, the heat or cold didn’t affect him much anymore. Still, a volcano could be challenging.

He cocked his head as he noticed something else. “But why are there only two of them?”

“Unnie could probably swim in lava and come out fine.”

“Ah, true.”

Now that Song Ha-Eun had absorbed the Dragon God’s soul, heat no longer affected her.

“By the way, where’s Ha-Eun?” Vega asked.

“She’s...” Kwon Oh-Jin trailed off and glanced toward a crowd of dragonkin gathered like a cloud nearby.

Song Ha-Eun couldn’t even be seen through them.

Mournful voices rose from the crowd.

“S-Shrine Maiden... Why are you leaving us behind...?”

“We must accompany you, Maiden!”

“I’ve heard that mines are full of filthy dust. What if even a speck dirties your sacred body...!”

Clinging to her like toddlers begging for a toy, the dragonkin refused to let Song Ha-Eun go.

“Let go! I said let go, damn it!” she shouted, borderline about to cry as she struggled to shake them off.

Kwon Oh-Jin couldn’t bear to watch and stepped in, gripping her shoulder.

“O-Oh-Jin! Do something about these guys!”

“Ha-Eun, remember when you pretended to be the Dragon God?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Do it again. Act like that.” Eventually, Kwon Oh-Jin stepped in.

Once again, imitating the Dragon God’s voice, he convinced the dragonkin to let her go.

“If it’s the Dragon God’s will... we shall obey.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Like Konan mimicking Detective Morty after knocking him out with a tranquilizer[1], Kwon Oh-Jin moved his lips behind Song Ha-Eun. Then, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away.

Song Ha-Eun collapsed against him like melted pudding. “Phew. I thought I was gonna die back there. How long do I have to keep playing the Maiden?”

“At least until everything in the Demonic District is settled.”

“Ugh.” She draped her arms around Kwon Oh-Jin’s neck and hopped onto his back.

A soft, springy sensation spread across his back. Though the weight didn’t compare to Isabella’s, Song Ha-Eun clearly had the edge in elasticity.

Why the hell am I even comparing that right now?

They hadn’t even left the kingdom yet. What was she doing?

“I’m tired. Carry me,” she whispered sweetly into his ear as she clung to his neck.

“A woman in her thirties trying to act cute...”

“What was that?” Her arms tightened slightly around his neck.

“Where shall I escort you to, my lady?”

“All the way to the mine.”

“Then what about Boppy?”

“Isabella can ride Boppy.”

Maybe it was the stifling act of living the royal life in the kingdom, or maybe it was just the joy of finally stepping outside again. Either way, Song Ha-Eun brimmed with excitement like someone just being released from prison.

“Damn, I wonder who raised you? Your back is so wide and solid,” Song Ha-Eun said.

“At least we know it wasn’t you.”

“What are you talking about? I marked you as mine and raised you since you were little.” She smiled mischievously and playfully brought the tip of her tongue close to his neck.

A tingling shiver ran down his spine.

“What exactly are you doing, unnie?” Isabella asked.

“Can’t you see that my child is uncomfortable?”

Vega and Isabella glared daggers at Song Ha-Eun, still piggybacking on Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Oh, come on. I barely got to spend any time with Oh-Jin because of those guys. Let me hang on a little longer.”

“Hmph! A woman old enough to know better is acting so indecently!” Vega said.

“Excuse me? You’re one to talk.” With a sly twist of her lips, Song Ha-Eun silently mouthed the word “butt.”

Vega shot straight up like she had touched a hot stove. “I-I already said that was a misunderstanding!”

“Sure, sure. A misunderstanding.”

“Cut it out, Ha-Eun,” Kwon Oh-Jin sighed as he leaned forward and let her down.

Song Ha-Eun didn’t seriously intend to ride on his back all the way to the mine, so she stepped down without protest.

Clearly flustered after getting smacked with that unexpected comeback, Vega lowered her head with a gloomy look. “H-Hic! I-I am not such a shameless woman.”

Song Ha-Eun giggled and gently cupped Vega in her hands from on top of Kwon Oh-Jin’s head. “It was a joke. I’m sorry.”

“Whatever.” Vega turned away with a little huff in mock annoyance.

The way she did it looked so adorable that Song Ha-Eun had to fight the sudden urge to nibble Vega’s cheek.

If I actually bit her cheek, considering our size difference, things would turn into a real-life Attack on Giant[2] pretty quickly.

Since Vega’s manifested form was barely bigger than the size of a hand, biting her cheek was clearly out of the question.

“Hehehe. Every little thing our little goddess does is so cute.” Instead, Song Ha-Eun tickled Vega’s belly with her thumb while holding her in one hand.

“W-What do you think you’re doing?!” Vega squealed and flailed her limbs, but couldn’t escape Song Ha-Eun’s grip in her limited manifested state. “H-How dare you! L-Let me go... I-It tickles!”

Tears welled in Vega’s eyes as she pleaded.

Watching this entire scene from a short distance away, Riarc deeply sighed and shook his head. “If the other Celestials saw this, they’d foam at the mouth and pass out.”

“Yeah, Ha-Eun is way too rough with Vega sometimes,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“You’re one to talk, aren’t you...?”

“Ahem.”

“Let’s get going already, Ha-Eun!”

“Ah, yeah! Okay!”

Vega wriggled free and fluttered over to Kwon Oh-Jin. She grabbed tightly onto his hair while glaring back at Song Ha-Eun. “M-My child! H-Ha-Eun just manhandled my divine body...!”

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and climbed onto Boppy’s back. “Let’s go, Boppy.”

“Grrr!” With a sharp cry, Boppy took off.

***

Around three days passed on the road. The temperature around them gradually rose, and the acrid smell of sulfur began to sting their noses.

“Ugh, what is that smell?” Song Ha-Eun pinched her nose.

She could deal with the heat, but couldn’t handle the stench.

“I told you there’s a volcano nearby,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“But this place is a mine, right? Is it even safe to dig near a volcano?”

Ordinarily, digging near a volcano risked exposure to toxic gas or magma. It wasn’t an advisable thing to do.

“Well, how would I know what those damn demonkin are thinking?”

They hadn’t even known the demonkin were mining here until recently.

“They’re mining for gold, right?” Isabella asked.

“Yeah. Apparently, that Deimos guy is completely obsessed with treasures like gold.”

Deimos the Golden, just like his name suggested, had an obsession with precious metals as well as gemstones and relics.

“But is gold even valuable to the demonkin?”

“Who knows,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

Human society universally recognized gold for its value, but it wasn’t clear whether that held true in the Demonic District.

“The gold in the Demonic District is a bit different from the human world,” Riarc replied as he walked ahead.

“Different?”

“It looks and feels similar, but gold here holds the power of the stars.”

“Like Starstones?”

“Yes, especially the gold in the Black Rock Mine. It’s rumored to contain very powerful mana.”

If that was true, then Deimos was essentially monopolizing a rich source of star power.

“Then, he stole Gramp’s treasure because...” Song Ha-Eun trailed off.

“He probably heard rumors about Deneb.”

It only took one look at Deneb’s temple, adorned in lavish jewels and Astral Relics, to know that the Celestial was second to none when it came to treasures.

Of course, it would’ve been impossible to steal directly from Deneb in the Sanctum. Deimos stealing from Deneb’s apostle instead made more sense.

“Basically, he’s a bastard blinded by money,” Song Ha-Eun said.

“Well... I’m not sure if we can really call it money, but yeah, he definitely has an obsessive attachment to anything rare and valuable.”

“What a total scumbag, just like that orphanage director. Ptui!” Song Ha-Eun spat on the ground as she recalled an unpleasant memory.

“Anyway, looks like we’re getting close to the heart of the volcanic zone. How about we camp here for the night and head out early in the morning?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Isabella agreed.

It wasn’t completely dark yet, but even if they pushed ahead, quite a bit of distance remained to the Black Rock Mine. Since they had to go through this area anyway, it made more sense to rest here on the edge of the sulfur zone, where the gas wasn’t too strong yet.

“I’ll pitch the tent,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“And I’ll start making dinner,” Isabella replied.

With a light hop, Song Ha-Eun jumped off Boppy’s back and took out a cigarette pack from her pocket. “Then, I’ll go have a smoke.”

Humming to herself, she jogged off into the distance.

Kwon Oh-Jin watched her shrinking figure with an amused smile.

“Unnie said you like girls who smoke. Is that true, Mr Oh-Jin?”

“I never said I like girls who smoke. I said smoking kinda suits her.”

“Hmm. Then what about me?” Isabella held her index and middle fingers to her lips, mimicking a cigarette.

She had clearly never touched one in her life. The gesture alone looked awkward.

“If you smoked, it’d honestly look kinda funny.”

“What? Why?”

“It just doesn’t suit you.”

“I can look sexy smoking too, you know!” She pouted.

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair. “I don’t hate smoking or anything, but it doesn’t smell nice. Don’t smoke.”

“Hmm. Then I’ll try again next time with a vitamin stick.”

That might look even funnier.

Kwon Oh-Jin suppressed a smile and turned around. Just then, Song Ha-Eun, who had gone off for a smoke, came barreling back like an angry rhinoceros.

Thududududu!

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“O-Oh-Jin!” Her eyes sparkled like stars. “There’s a hot spring over there! A hot spring!”

A hot spring? Where the heck did that come from?

1. Reference to Detective Conan always speaking through a sleeping Detective Mouri after solving a case. ☜

2. Reference to Attack on Titan, where humanoid giants eat humans. ☜