Chapter 319

The quest window that surfaced for the first time in ages carried nothing that could be laughed off.

It made me wonder if this was what the bead had been warning me about.

[QUEST] [URGENT]

Terror of the Sea.

[Description]

The Seven Calamity 'Venus' has recognized Yu Ji-hyeok as an enemy, along with everyone in his vicinity.

All of Venus's subordinates will come for you.

She, who has long reigned as the terror of the sea over every sailor, will not stop until her enemies have been buried in the cold, silent depths.

Escape her threat.

[Success Condition]

Defeat or seal the Seven Calamity Venus.

[Reward on Success]

None.

[QUEST] [URGENT]

Call from the Depths.

[Description]

The Seven Calamity 'Juno' has recognized Yu Ji-hyeok as an enemy, along with everyone in his vicinity.

All of Juno's subordinates will come for you.

It, which has rarely stirred from its rest, will not stop until its enemies have fallen silent.

Escape its threat.

[Success Condition]

Defeat or seal the Seven Calamity Juno.

[Reward on Success]

None.

"……"

Are you kidding me.

A hollow laugh slipped out of me at the sight of it.

A quest window meant their intent was set in stone. After confirming that much, I lifted Minerva — still trembling in my arms — and stepped back out of the cave.

"Minerva."

I called her name, trying any way I could to settle her.

Her face had gone bone-white, and her lips wouldn't stop quivering.

"Minerva, look at me. Hey? Just breathe."

"M-my body… I don't know what's wrong with it… what — what is this… no, why… why am I human, my power… I…."

She muttered the same things over and over, her color drained.

All the while, she gripped the coat I'd draped over her with both hands, knuckles white.

I rubbed her back and shoulders to calm her, then turned my focus inward.

…If she'd lost her power for some reason, the Minerva inside my shadow would surely have undergone some massive change of her own.

Minerva, you all right?

[Mm….]

The reply came back in a puzzled tone.

[I'm perfectly fine. I checked thoroughly just to be sure — far from losing my strength, I'm completely… no, completely doesn't quite cover it….]

She trailed off briefly, then spoke with certainty.

[If anything, I feel even stronger than before.]

What?

I couldn't believe it. She answered without hesitation.

[I'm certain. You — try circulating Dragon Blood through your body for a moment. Dragon Blood is my authority, my very strength. If I had truly lost my power, the Dragon Blood running through you would have lost its as well.]

I followed her instruction and let a small amount of Dragon Blood circulate.

She hadn't been lying — strength surged through me at once, more potent than I'd ever felt before.

Then what the hell is happening here…?

I looked down at the Minerva trembling in my arms.

She was clutching my clothes hard enough to crease them, as if I were her last lifeline.

No matter how I looked at it, she wasn't acting or putting on a show.

Minerva wasn't the type to play a meaningless prank like this.

[Ah.]

After a beat, the Minerva inside me murmured, a note of no, surely not in her voice.

[Mm — you. This is purely my own guess, but… mind if I share it?]

I told her to go ahead, and for some reason she hesitated.

Then, abruptly, she turned her attention on the quietly waiting Sbeungali.

[Sbeungali, withdraw deep into his consciousness. Deep enough that you can't hear me speak.]

[…What? Why am I suddenly the one catching flak? Do you have any idea how miserable it is, sinking deep into someone's consciousness?]

Sbeungali grumbled — and then, in a single moment, his presence faded until I could barely register him.

So that's what it feels like when someone sinks into deep consciousness — I hadn't even realized he could do that — and while I was still puzzling it out, she began to speak again.

[Mm, like I said, this is only my guess… but I suspect it was the past me who wanted this to happen, and so it did.]

What?

[Th-this is rather embarrassing to say with my own mouth, but… I'm a dragon, aren't I? And dragons, broadly speaking, share a kinship with creatures like lizards and snakes.]

I nodded.

She was right — every Seven Calamity had something it was modeled on.

A dragon for Minerva, a bird and tree for Sbeungali.

But what did that have to do with what was happening now?

[My authority — what you knew as the one no attack could pierce — wasn't quite that. Originally, it was an ability to adapt to every kind of attack and environment. Over the long ages I've lived, I kept adapting, and eventually came to possess a body that couldn't be wounded by anything short of another Seven Calamity's power.]

Ah….

That was news to me.

She kept going.

[S…o, here's the thing. Long, long ago, when the past me adapted in that fashion — or took an injury — I would molt, shedding scales and reshaping my body. To put it simply, I evolved through molting.]

Wait, are you saying this Minerva just went through a molt?

[She hasn't transformed completely, no… but it can be understood along those lines.]

…Why?

She paused at my question.

Then, with a sigh, she went on.

[It must be because of you.]

Because of me.

What in the world was that supposed to mean?

[You. You remember what Sbeungali and I told you earlier, don't you? That the Seven Calamities have a duty — one we are bound to fulfill above all.]

[…Then Venus declared that removing you is that duty. And Venus isn't alone. Juno took her side, and even Ahriman lined up behind them. The past me must genuinely believe it now, too — that killing you is the act of fulfilling our duty as Seven Calamities.]

[That's why. That's why she's become that.]

Minerva's voice carried a bitter undertone.

[For the past me, killing you is the duty owed. That's the obligation of a Seven Calamity.]

[But she didn't want to. And somewhere in that, a thought must have crept up on her without her even realizing it.]

[What if I were weak? Weak enough that I couldn't even pose a threat to him — then it wouldn't matter, would it? I could ignore my duty as a Seven Calamity and never have to hurt him.]

[And so she ended up in the body of a frail human. As for losing her power — I suspect she subconsciously sealed it away herself.]

[That fragile thing in your arms is the answer she arrived at, after agonizing it out on her own.]

I had no response.

I just looked down at the Minerva curled against me, and the question came out before I'd thought to ask it.

"…Why?"

[Why, you ask. It's a simple matter, really.]

The Minerva inside me gave a wry, quiet laugh.

[She and I are, in the end, the same being. So our eye for people must be the same as well.]

"……"

I gave a slow nod.

Then I carefully ran my hand along the back of the Minerva in my arms, who had finally stopped shaking quite so badly.

"Minerva."

"……"

"…I'll help you. I'll help you get your body back, your power — all of it back."

I couldn't tell her what the Minerva inside me had just said. Whether it was the truth or not didn't matter — she was barely holding together, and confusing her further would do more harm than good.

"I'll keep you safe in the meantime. So let's head home first."

"…Where."

She whispered it.

"Where on earth do you mean to take me? Looking like this, stripped of my power, dragging this shameful life of mine even further along… where could we possibly go…?"

I answered her with all the certainty I had.

"Where else would we go right now? There's only one place."

I stood and lifted Minerva carefully into my arms.

To my relief, she let herself be carried without resistance.

Or maybe she'd simply lost the will to resist.

"Home."

"Oh my god!"

The instant Han Su-yeong laid eyes on Minerva, she shot up and damn near jumped out of her skin.

She seemed to have pieced together the gist of the situation without me needing to explain.

"She's freezing… let's get her in a hot bath first. Let me check for a fever…."

Su-yeong reached out and pressed her hand to Minerva's forehead.

Minerva — cradled in my arms — usually treated Su-yeong with open disdain, but now she just glanced up at her, weak and listless, as Su-yeong's hand settled on her brow. Su-yeong nodded, looking relieved.

"No fever, thank god. The bigger question is whether we have anything she can wear… my clothes won't fit her… Ji-hyeok, leave this part to me."

"Yeah. Thanks, Su-yeong."

She flashed me a small smile at that.

Then she scooped Minerva up and headed for the bathroom.

While the two of them were in there, I stepped outside and started pulling out branches from the World Tree.

"Sbeungali."

[…Mm, you don't have to say it.]

As if he already knew what I needed, Sbeungali began layering his power into the World Tree branches I was drawing out. Soon the branches — laced with both of our power — spread out wide from the cabin in every direction.

If Venus and Juno had locked onto me and the people around me, the bare minimum of defenses had to be in place.

Originally, I'd been planning to strike first and ambush the two of them — but with Minerva ending up in that state, an unexpected complication had landed in my lap, and rushing in was no longer a smart move.

"…Good."

Between the wards and protective spells Su-yeong had laid out and the World Tree branches I'd just woven in, the place wouldn't pose much of a threat to anyone short of a Seven Calamity showing up in person. Still, just in case, I'd want to take more time later and build out proper defenses, I thought as I turned back.

"Let me dry your hair."

"……"

I went back inside to find Han Su-yeong sitting Minerva down and gently towel-drying her hair after the bath.

Minerva was wearing my clothes, since they were the only fit available on short notice. Glancing over, I caught her nodding off, eyelids fluttering. The hot bath must have eased the tension out of her.

"You hungry? I mean — are you hungry, miss?"

Minerva shook her head without a word.

Su-yeong carefully helped her stand.

"Then let's get you to bed for now. You look exhausted…."

At that, Minerva flinched and turned wide, anxious eyes on me.

I nodded to tell her it was fine, and she — reluctantly, hesitantly — followed Su-yeong into the bedroom.

Not long after, Su-yeong came back out alone, letting out a soft sigh.

"She must've been wiped out. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow."

Her own face looked exhausted as she said it.

…Come to think of it, she'd spent the past few days laying wards and protective spells around the area. She had to be running on fumes, but she still wasn't letting any of it show in front of me — and all I could do was nod uselessly back at her.

"So what the hell happened out there?"

"I was just about to walk you through it. What happened was…"

I gave her a quick rundown of the situation.

The avatars of Venus and Juno had shown up while she was away.

The two of them had declared that they were coming for me and everyone around me.

That in the middle of a conversation with them, Minerva had suddenly told me she would never come to see me again and disappeared — and I'd chased after her with everything I had.

That I'd found her turned into a human, and on top of that, completely stripped of her power.

…The part about the Seven Calamities' duty I couldn't bring myself to share — both Minerva and Sbeungali had been adamantly against it being repeated.

"I see…."

She nodded, taking it in.

Then she turned a sly smile on me.

"So me having things prepped all over the place ahead of time turned out to be a pretty good call, huh?"

"…Yeah, now that you mention it, it really did."

I gave her a small smile back.

"My original plan was to take the fight to Venus and Juno first. But with Minerva ending up like this out of nowhere… I think we'll have to lay low for a few days and watch how things move. I can't exactly leave her behind in that state."

"Yeah. I think the same."

I watched her nod in agreement, then went on.

"For now, I'll do what you've been doing — spend the next few days tightening up the defenses around here. Heading down to the village for groceries is probably better left to me too. …Or I could put Landschi to work."

He wouldn't pull anything that obvious — not yet, anyway.

Muttering as much, I glanced over at her and asked:

"On that note — could you handle taking care of Minerva for a while? For obvious reasons, having me look after her would be a little… you know. And since you're a woman and she's a woman now too…"

She giggled.

"If you'd actually offered to do it, I'd be tearing your hair out right about now — and yelling 'you pervert!' the whole time."

That got a laugh out of me too.

While I was still smiling, Su-yeong's expression turned thoughtful.

"Anyway, Venus and Juno and Ahriman… you're really popular, Ji-hyeok. Three Seven Calamities have you in their sights. Or four, if you throw Minerva in there."

"…Sorry."

Su-yeong shot me a look like she didn't know where that had come from.

"It's just — feels like I keep dragging you into dangerous stuff because of me…."

"…Oh my god, seriously. I thought you were finally over this for a while, and here you go again."

She muttered the words like I was a hopeless case.

Then her tone sharpened, almost scolding.

"You trying to get me to chew you out again? What did I tell you before, Ji-hyeok? Did I ever say apologizing and feeling sorry was the right thing to do in moments like this?"

I gave her a small smile and shook my head.

Then I swapped out what I'd said for something else.

"Thank you."

"There you go. Good answer."

Only then did Su-yeong relax the frown on her face, looking satisfied.

She started tapping her finger against the table.

"…Hm, on the subject of Minerva, though. Setting aside how weak she's gotten, she's incredibly on edge. From what I saw, she gets even more anxious whenever you're not in the room. She kept asking where you'd gone the whole time she was in the bath."

I nodded.

I'd noticed it too — the way she'd kept checking on me, as if to reassure herself I was still there.

"And on top of all that, Venus and Juno. Plus Ahriman…."

Ahriman, Ahriman.

Su-yeong rolled the name around a few times, then finally nodded as if she'd decided something.

"…Yeah. Okay. It shouldn't matter anymore."

She told me to wait a second, then came back with something and set it on the table.

"Su-yeong, this is…."

It was a book.

The Nameless Book.

The very thing only Han Su-yeong had been granted the right to read.

"New text appeared on it. I only realized after I came to this world. And…"

She murmured it quietly.

"…I've finally made up my mind."

With that, she carefully lifted the cover.

"Made up my mind to show this to you, Ji-hyeok."