Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 111

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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15. A Story Jin Hali Doesn’t Know (3)

The Baridegi Dungeon had three bosses.

King Yama, an unidentified shadow, and Baridegi.

Among them, I had entered the underground palace of the first boss, King Yama.

‘Why do I know this?’

It wasn’t a guess. I found it strange that I was suddenly certain of this without any reason.

[O King of the Underground.]

I heard Eerie Shadow’s voice.

And shortly after, the moment I looked back at him, a sensation like being in a flower garden filled me.

“Uh…”

Though the scene before my eyes wasn’t a flower garden.

Without realizing it, I let out a gasp and blankly stared at those arranged in ten rows below the chair I was sitting on.

With a path between them, standing facing each other and bowing at the waist, the scene reminded me of the ministers lined up below the throne in historical dramas.

I, I find this kind of thing burdensome.

“Eerie Shadow.”

After pondering, I called out to Eerie Shadow, and he, who had been standing at the very front on the right, raised his head to look up at me.

[Yes, my lord.]

“Shall we talk privately for a moment…?”

The scene felt too awkward to use formal speech, so I cautiously spoke casually.

Seeing joy flicker in Eerie Shadow’s hollow black eyes, it seemed to be the right choice.

[If that is what you wish, my lord.]

When he waved his hand once, the many beings dressed in similar attire who had been quietly lined up all disappeared at once.

And the place where I had been changed into a room.

“Uh.”

Without realizing it, I mimicked the gesture Eerie Shadow had made while thinking of a cafe.

The interior of the student cafes located throughout Narin Academy.

Then, as if it had been waiting, the space changed.

[As expected, you are skilled, my lord. Even without being taught.]

“About that, did you interfere with my mind by any chance?”

[That seems to be the case!]

Even Erich chimed in agreement, but Eerie Shadow’s reaction was different from what I expected.

[That cannot be. A master is literally a master. We merely fulfill the master’s wishes.]

“Like you did for Baridegi?”

[That’s right.]

Eerie Shadow answered with a mysterious smile.

[First, I shall prepare beverages.]

“Is consumption possible here too?”

[This is a real space, after all. It simply belongs to you, my lord.]

If that’s true, then I’m no different from a god in this place.

If I can change everything as I think and this is a real space.

‘It feels like having a small world.’

As if reading my thoughts, Eerie Shadow smiled broadly at that moment.

And shortly after.

“Good.”

A being with a different appearance but similar atmosphere to Eerie Shadow approached and offered me a menu.

The space is an academy cafe, but the method isn’t systematic.

It seems closer to the old world.

[Those transparent windows you know cannot enter this place.]

Thanks to Erich’s supplementary explanation, I was able to order without being flustered.

“Iced americano with hazelnut!”

[I’ll have red bean tea.]

[Yes.]

With a faint sound, the staff member retreated.

And shortly after, two drinks were placed on the table where we sat.

Seeing that, something suddenly came to mind.

You know, like the tale of Persephone.

The setting where you can’t return if you eat food from the underworld. There seem to be quite a few folktales with such settings, and Baridegi was also like that… wasn’t it?

“If I drink this, I won’t be unable to return, will I?”

[That cannot be. It’s just that it won’t exceed the taste you imagine, my lord. Also, rather than accumulating as energy in your body, it gets converted to spiritual power. In fact, the more you consume, the better. It will help in utilizing the dungeon.]

“Hmm.”

[You don’t have to drink it, or you may drink it. Everything is according to your will, my lord.]

[He speaks well.]

‘Erich, do you think what he said is correct?’

[…It’s probably not a lie. Rather, what you said is stranger. Where did you hear such words?]

‘There are such things among world folktales.’

[It seems that doesn’t apply to this dungeon’s folktale.]

‘I see.’

Or it could be that the stories differ by region, and the land where Narin Academy was built doesn’t have such a setting.

Anyway, if it’s something I can trust.

I took a sip. The aroma and the bland taste were all exactly as I knew them.

Eerie Shadow only drank the red bean tea placed in front of him after I had taken a sip and was satisfied.

After spending some time like that, I asked.

“I need some explanation of the situation. What were those beings from earlier, and where are the bosses who supposedly wanted to meet me?”

[By human standards, they belong to monsters, but at the same time, they are also spiritual entities that are not monsters.]

“Spiritual entities?”

[They are spirits dwelling in the land.]

Like me, he added with a gentle smile.

[Originally, they existed only as folktales, dwelling in people’s minds, but gained physical form.]

“If they existed only as folktales, doesn’t that mean they were things that didn’t exist?”

[Just because something is invisible doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Especially things passed down through generations in human consciousness definitely exist. Stories also belong to that category. However.]

He wore a calm smile, then glanced at Erich with cold eyes for a moment before continuing.

[At some point, they were expelled and came to exist. I can only say they were changed due to some invasion.]

“By invasion, do you mean destruction?”

[…You could say that, now.]

Erich is strangely quiet.

I touched my earring once.

[When we’re among ourselves, we inevitably change under the influence of those invaders. Since that’s not a change we can control, I want to ask for your understanding regarding what happened last time.]

“What happened last time?”

[When you first came here, weren’t you in danger, my lord?]

He seemed to be referring to the clearing process.

He spoke with an apologetic expression.

[At that time, since we didn’t belong to you, my lord, we couldn’t receive your influence. Thankfully, it’s different now.]

“Wait a minute.”

I discovered something in his words that differed from what I knew.

“You receive my influence?”

The dungeon does?

Eerie Shadow nodded.

[Yes. Since you are human, my lord, our identity as spiritual entities has now grown stronger. Probably due to our change, beings like us have gradually started to regain their senses.]

“Beings like you, you mean.”

Something did come to mind.

Indigenous dungeons that reflected the folktales and characteristics of that land were indeed less aggressive in the original work.

However, according to that Eerie Shadow’s words, that state was also one of ‘not coming to their senses’ or ‘being invaded and changed,’ meaning there was a possibility they could transform like these ones.

Huh, this seems like too big of a change.

But I couldn’t tell if it would harm preventing the apocalypse.

[You are our benefactor, my lord.]

If I was just someone this being held goodwill toward, as he said.

So if there would be no harm to me…

The moment I thought that, something rose up from within.

[Oh my. We’re running out of time.]

When I hastily pushed away the empty cup and coughed up blood, looking at him with bewildered eyes, the Eerie Shadow instantly approached and supported me.

As his touch stroked my back, my insides began to stabilize immediately.

[My lord, please accept my service.]

“…Service?”

[If you accept me, I will be quite helpful going forward.]

Before that.

With those quietly added words, his appearance began to transform.

Black official robes and a black hat.

His tall frame, which looked about 3 meters when standing, was different from when I first saw him – not bulky but with a balanced model-like physique.

His face changed from the previous Eerie Shadow face to something closer to human.

When the transformation finished, he had become a handsome man.

“…What the hell?”

[One who was once an Eerie Shadow, but was also a king of the underground, greets the king.]

The Eerie Shadow gave me a respectful deep bow.

And while kneeling, he looked up at me.

[Do you remember? I was the first boss. When I saw you then, I had an intuition. The one who would free us had appeared.]

“…”

If I had seen those words as dialogue in a novel, it probably would have been really cringey.

But hearing it directly with that face and that voice felt very different.

Because an unfathomably deep resentment was embedded in it.

And it was equally blind in its devotion.

And only then could I lower my guard against this dungeon somewhat.

[The other two also wanted to come forward, but for now it might burden your body, so we decided to have just one come forward first. In the meantime, since what you immediately need seems to be strengthening your fan, I came to see you first.]

“I see. Um, so what should I do now?”

[You just need to say you’ll accept me.]

“I’ll accept you.”

[…]

The Eerie Shadow – no, the former King Yama – paused at my obedient response and slowly widened his eyes.

Only his eyes remained the same as when he was an Eerie Shadow, completely black including the whites, but the difference was that emotions could be felt more clearly.

[My master.]

Joy was dwelling there.

[Please illuminate anew the path of wandering souls.]

A voice mixed with sighs and happiness flowed from him in what seemed like an old-fashioned way of speaking.

[…Master of folktales.]

The last words were too quiet to understand clearly.

But Erich seemed to understand and made a complicated “hmm” sound.

With that, the surroundings changed.

And when I closed my eyes once and opened them, I was standing on that ground where I had stamped my foot to open the entrance earlier.

Holding the fan with the tiger embroidered in gold thread, now more vivid than before.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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