Beastly and Fearlessly - Chapter 33
Only Noblemtl
Episode 33
There was a bit of a commotion.
The Heavenly Pearl has already left the place.
Jin Ja-hong, who had been sitting on the floor for a while, got up with difficulty.
A priestess approached him, patted his shoulder, and said:
“According to an old tale, the dragon could not become a dragon because it could not let go of the three beads in its mouth. If it had given up two of the three, it would have become a dragon. It was all because of greed.”
Jin Ja-hong sat with a look of bewilderment.
“You must try not to become sinister yourself. If you can let go of what you have, then you will be able to change your destiny.”
He had a blank expression on his face until the moment someone helped him out.
“Now, it’s your turn. Damyeong, the Sodongju of Namcheon Damdong.”
Finally it was my turn, but only two people were watching with interest.
The already engraved Bangyakran and Nokseungseo.
The warriors who had filled their great cavalry were already in great disappointment.
Although everyone was quiet, perhaps because of the priestess’s shouting earlier, no one seemed interested in what kind of imprint I would receive.
“We’ve met before. When you were very young.”
“I heard it from the old man.”
“I’m really curious about the imprint you’ll get today. That’s why I asked you to hurry up and do the Mansu ceremony.”
Ah. It was my fault that it was brought forward.
“Actually, I don’t believe that imprints determine destiny.”
Perhaps a rude remark to the priestess performing the ritual.
But I honestly told you my true feelings.
The priestess, who had been looking at him for a while with a smile, muttered.
“I can’t help but have high hopes for this guy… … .”
A new torch was in my hand, and the dragon’s horn was heated.
And then my left shoulder was crushed with a popping sound.
When I rub someone else’s shoulder, it only lasts for a moment, but when I rub my own shoulder, it takes an eternity.
After a short but long time, the dragonfly finally fell from my shoulder.
There is still no shape, just a red wound.
As the priestess’s hand gently caressed my body, the pain that had been melting my flesh gradually disappeared.
I hope something like a rabbit or a squirrel comes out.
I don’t believe that engraving determines fate, but I still don’t want to come all the way to the Beast Palace and return empty-handed.
I’m sure everyone in Namcheon Damdong is looking forward to it.
“Uh, uh, uh… … .”
Bang Yak-ran, who had been watching from behind, began to stammer and was unable to continue speaking.
When I turned my head, I saw the usually expressionless Nok Seung-seo with his mouth wide open, making a strange expression I had never seen before.
No, why?
What, did a creepy lizard come out?
I turned my gaze to my left shoulder.
The imprint that had been hidden in the priestess’ hand was slowly revealing itself.
A gaze that looks down on the world.
A long tail that covers the sky.
Reddish-black scales piled up high.
and…….
Two prominent horns rise above the arrogant eyes.
“Hey, it’s a dragon! A red dragon… … .”
The priestess stopped Bang Yak-ran, who was about to shout out the red dragon while out of breath.
“Shh! It’s not over yet.”
Her gentle hands reached out to my shoulders again.
After caressing it for a while like that… … .
The crimson scales that covered my shoulders had disappeared, leaving behind a black dragon.
It’s as if all the colors in the world have been sucked in…
Black scales starting from the tail cover the entire body.
Only the two eyes raised above the two horns that jut out like blades are as red as blood.
“Black Dragon… … A black dragon with red eyes… … .”
The priestess’ expression was mysterious.
I was unable to readily explain the meaning of the engraving.
“Is it bad?”
She smiled faintly at my question and answered.
“How could the Dragon’s Seal be bad? I’m just not sure what this red-eyed black dragon means. Can you give me some time?”
He nodded.
The ritual must be completed, regardless of interpretation.
She stepped forward towards everyone watching.
It is rare for the priestess to say something to everyone after the ceremony.
Everyone gathered in the Great Hall of Dance watched her with their mouths shut.
A situation where thousands of mighty warriors are watching to see what will come out of this tiny woman’s mouth.
Finally, her mouth opened.
“Black Dragon! The Black Dragon’s Seal has been placed!”
Black Dragon’s Seal!
There was a moment of silence as if it took time to accept this unexpected word.
After a while.
Wow!
Wow!
A thunderous cheer filled the entire Beast Palace.
The red flames burning in the center of the training ground also rose into the sky as if shouting along with them.
All these shouts were directed only at me.
“Congratulations on receiving the Black Dragon’s Seal.”
The priestess smiled and congratulated him.
Nok Seung-seo and Bang Yak-ran were cheering loudly, raising both arms to the sky as if it were their own business.
I looked down at my left shoulder again.
A dragon as black as pitch was facing me.
Two eyes as red as blood.
A tightly shut mouth.
He was telling me this.
Accept your king’s fate!
* * *
I returned to my quarters, leaving behind a huge cheer.
I never expected that I would receive such a great impression.
Actually, I thought I might not receive it the whole time I was coming to the palace.
The dragon’s imprint.
A black dragon with blood-red eyes and pitch-black scales.
But there was someone else who was more excited than me.
“Haha. I already knew this guy was something special. Black Dragon, Black Dragon… … . I still can’t believe it.”
Perhaps Nosa would have been grateful if even one rabbit was carved.
Because everyone thought I wouldn’t get an imprint.
“But why are you smiling at Jeon Nang instead of looking at me?”
The union made a huge amount of money with the stakes I gave them.
“You punk, if there are two good things, you should be happy about both. How can you be happy about just one? The Black Dragon’s seal is good, and money is good, too.”
He bet all the money I gave him and made ten times the profit.
A whopping six hundred nyang of gold.
Even if converted to the value of the Central Plains, it is a huge amount of money.
“It’s old. If you want to follow that great destiny in the future, you’ll need a lot of money.”
When I opened the wallet, all my other money was inside.
“It’s my brother’s money, so I would appreciate it if you could give me half of it.”
“I don’t bet to spend money. I bet to win money. When you’re old, where else would you spend money? Free alcohol tastes better, after all. Haha.”
Ah, Nosa was a real gambler.
Don’t chase money, enjoy the pleasure of the moment.
“By the way, Deoksam, why does your expression look so bad?”
Deoksam, who had been huddled in the corner, finally raised his head and answered.
“No, that’s right, of course, Lord Sodong received that great impression, so I feel like dancing… … .”
“Kekekeke. Leave him alone. That guy blew all his money yesterday. What good would it do if I gave him some confidential information? Tsk tsk.”
Blowing my money means I’m betting that I won’t get an imprint.
You seem like such a cold-hearted guy.
“how much?”
“It’s thirty nyang of silver.”
Deoksam lowered his head even further.
Even if the South Mansion were to burn and the Beast Palace were to collapse, there would be no such expression.
He took out a coin from his pocket and threw it to me, saying:
“Thank you!”
“yes yes?”
“Let’s do well.”
“yes…….”
Suddenly I came into a lot of money.
I guess I’ll have to add more investment next time I see the kid.
“Nosa, can I ask you something? If you find it difficult to answer, you don’t have to.”
“What, what? Why do you keep going to that old priestess? Of course, to get some alcohol… … .”
That’s not the question.
Why is this gentleman’s face suddenly red and his eyes shaking?
“No. That’s not it. It’s a question related to the Beast King.”
For a moment, Nosa’s expression hardened.
“Where did you hear that story?”
“No. I was wondering if you knew anything since you haven’t been seen for a long time. I also heard rumors that you weren’t feeling well.”
As the former leader of the Iron Warriors, he fought alongside the Beast King on the battlefield for a long time.
Then he might know something.
After being silent for a long time, he opened his mouth.
“Red dragon… … It should have been a red dragon, not a black dragon.”
One word: Red Dragon.
And the eyes of the old man and woman were filled with regret.
What more explanation is needed?
“I heard there isn’t much time left.”
“Okay, that’s a sufficient explanation.”
The South is different from the Central Plains.
Unlike the Central Plains, where the Jeongpa, Sapa, and even the Demonic Cults gather together and point their swords at each other, the existence of the Beast Palace is absolute in the Namman.
The one who stands at the top is the Beast King Jin Jung-ak.
If the Beast King’s absence becomes known in the Central Plains… … .
And the Namman clans, the Beast Palace, the Paldong clans, and many other clans are linked like chains to the Beast King.
Even though the Beast King is still alive and his uncle is taking on his role, this situation cannot last forever.
If that faucet were to collapse, hundreds of chains would come crashing down.
Something that doesn’t change no matter where you go in this world.
Human greed.
It won’t be long before a bloody storm blows across the South.
* * *
I met the priestess separately.
White face.
And hair that’s even whiter than that.
Small stature.
This young woman is the same age as the old man.
It’s still beautiful, as if it’s turned back time.
She looked at me for a long time without saying anything.
But the warm gaze was as if he had met a lost blood relative again.
“I became a priestess of the Beast Palace when I was twelve. The following year, I held the Beast King’s full-life ceremony. He must have been seventeen at the time. It was the first full-life ceremony I officiated.”
“You were both young.”
“Ha. That’s right. As I was caressing my wound with trembling hands, a bright red dragon appeared. My heart was pounding so hard. In the end, as time passed, he became the Beast King according to his destiny.”
It is said that in the many-year-old ceremonies held by priestesses so far, the dragon’s imprint has only occurred twice.
The Beast King, and me.
“As you know, red symbolizes the south and fire. That’s why the Beast King who rules the South is engraved with the Red Dragon. It’s also why flames shoot out of his fists.”
I am not a red dragon.
A black dragon that looks like it was drawn with ink.
“What does the black dragon mean?”
“Um… … If we look at the colors alone, black represents the north and water.”
north.
If we take Nanman as the standard… … it means the Central Plains.
“What you just remembered is correct. It’s the Central Plains.”
“So does that mean I rule the Central Plains?”
What a huge and arrogant question this is.
To rule over that vast central plain.
“That’s what I thought when I performed the ritual earlier. A warrior born in Nanman would become the emperor who would rule over the Central Plains. In fact, I got goosebumps at that moment. It’s the same now.”
She still has that same expression.
“But right now, my guess is that it might or might not be the case.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure what color the dragon tattooed on your left shoulder is.”
She turned her gaze towards my shoulder.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a black color that leaves no room for theory.
Like an abyss that seems like it will suck you in.
“Isn’t it black?”
“It’s one of two things. Either it’s originally black or… … .”
He seems lost in thought and cannot continue speaking.
I didn’t ask any questions and just waited quietly for her mouth to open.
“Or maybe it’s a mixture of all the colors. Black and white, red and blue… … . In that case, it shouldn’t be called a black dragon, but a dark dragon… … .”
Dark dragon.
Blue represents east, white represents west, red represents south, and finally black represents north.
Does it mean that all the colors representing the four directions of the world are mixed together to rule the entire world?
Or does it mean that it will swallow up the entire world?
At that moment, the spirits I had encountered in the forest cave north of Myorim came to mind.
The four colors of black, white, red, and blue swirled around and seeped into me.
That thing that sits unresponsively at the edge of my heart.
“I still can’t tell which one it is. And why are those two eyes red?”
The engraving is made of one color with only differences in light and dark.
The pine cones of the Nokseungseo were blue, and the clouds of the Bangyakran were drawn in a hazy gray background with a white background.
It is the first time that a priestess has been expressed in two colors that are so contrasting as black and red.
“Won’t you find out little by little?”
“First of all, let’s keep the possibility of the Dark Dragon between the two of us. There’s no need to make a fuss over something that isn’t even certain.”
He nodded and said.
The imprint that may be the female dragon, and the unknown power gained from the cave in Myorim are all secrets.
Suddenly there are a lot of secrets.
“Thank you. And please stay healthy for a long time. You will have to watch what fate this seal leads me to, after all, you are the one who gave it to me.”
He said, tapping my left shoulder with his finger.
The priestess answered with a bright smile.
“I will definitely do that.”
She added as I stood up from my seat.
“Remember, you only live once. So the path you take is the right path.”
To me, who is already living a second life, there is only one life.
It could just be words passed along.
But somehow her gaze seemed to pierce through me.
What did she see in me?
Born in poverty, raised as a slave, and eventually killed by betrayal.
And I got a new life.
I had an indescribable opportunity, but on the other hand, I felt lonely.
I felt like I was thrown into a world where no one knew me.
But this woman, whom I saw for the first time today, is comforting me.
When I looked back at the door, it was still looking at me.
Her eyes were saying this.
Walk forward.
Don’t look back.