Chapter 42: The Key That Shouldn’t Exist

[The World Tree Sprout advises caretaker Baek Dowoon to smash the box’s lock with a stone.]

To follow the advice, I pulled a stone out of my magic pouch.

So far, Sprout’s advice had never led me astray.

There were times when it suggested things that didn’t quite fit the situation, like throwing dirt in a crowd or tossing a stone away.

But Sprout always advised me for my own good.

This time would be no different.

The startled people looked back and forth between me and the stone in my hand.

“Stone?”

“Why a stone?”

I understood their confusion.

They must be wondering why I’d suddenly pull out a stone.

Honestly, if Sprout hadn’t suggested it, I wouldn’t have thought to do it either.

Heh, I wonder how this will turn out.

Their confusion was about to double.

I quickly slammed the stone against the lock.

Like a caveman bashing in the head of a beast.

Clang!

“Ahhh!”

“D-Doowoon, what are you doing?!”

The sound of the stone smashing the lock was buried under the shouts of alarm.

Ignoring them, I looked down at the stone in my hand.

With a cracking noise, it split in two.

The half not in my grip dropped to the floor with a thud.

[Sprout advises that once or twice won’t be enough—keep trying.]

I took out a second stone from the magic pouch.

There were still six left.

I had plenty of ammunition.

As I raised my arm to strike the lock again, Shim Yunjin grabbed my wrist.

Looking over, I saw her eyes wide open, shaking her head vigorously.

“Don’t! Are you planning to destroy everything inside?!”

“No, I’m just planning to break the lock.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“You never know until you try!”

I shook off the distracted Shim Yunjin and struck the lock again.

Clang!

The noise of the strike and Shim Yunjin’s shriek echoed together.

Again, the lock remained unscathed, and only the stone split in half.

Sprout had said once or twice wouldn’t do it.

I had to keep trying.

When I reached for another stone, Shim Yunjin, who had just sighed in relief, shrieked, “Why do you keep pulling out more?!”

Then she grabbed my wrist tightly and yelled to Woo Yeonhoo and Kim Jiyeon.

“What are you two doing? Aren’t you going to stop him?!”

“Ah, uh, uh!”

Kim Jiyeon, who’d been caught in a fog of confusion, seemed to decide to help Shim Yunjin.

She reached for the stone in my hand.

Her hand ended up grabbing the back of my hand as I spun it away.

With two A-rank Hunters gripping my wrists, I couldn’t move my hands.

Even when I tried to push down, their strength forced my hands up.

They were both an archer and a mage, but their strength was impressive.

Maintaining that deadlock, I glanced over at Woo Yeonhoo.

If he joined in, there’d be no way I could swing the stone.

Fortunately, he just stroked his chin, lost in thought.

“Hold on, both of you, let go.”

“Huh? But—!”

Woo Yeonhoo calmly waved a hand at Shim Yunjin as if telling her to settle down.

Seeing his gesture, as if pressing gently downward, Shim Yunjin exhaled.

Then she and Kim Jiyeon both let go of my wrists at the same time.

After finishing his thoughts, Woo Yeonhoo looked straight at me.

“Doowoon, what exactly are you thinking?”

No, I don’t have any particular plan.

I’m just doing what Sprout suggested.

“Yes, well. It’s a bit hard to explain.”

“Hm…”

At my words, Woo Yeonhoo fell back into thought.

Shim Yunjin walked up to him, saying she should stop me.

Now’s my chance—

“…….”
“…….”

As I raised my hand high, Kim Jiyeon bent her body low.

From her stance, it looked like she was planning to tackle me if I tried to smash the lock.

Why are you trying to tackle me? You’re an archer, not a wrestler.

If anyone saw this, they’d think you were a pro wrestler.

As I slowly lowered my hand, she stood up as well.

Swish,

“……!”
“…….”

Watching her stand up, I lifted my hand again.

She prepared for a tackle with such speed that I couldn’t bring the stone down on the lock.

Ah, this isn’t working.

Watching our back-and-forth, Woo Yeonhoo chuckled and said,

“Let him be.”

“Huh?”

“Let Doowoon do as he wants.”

“But—!”

Clang!

Taking advantage of Shim Yunjin and Kim Jiyeon’s momentary confusion, I brought the stone down on the lock.

The third stone split in half and dropped to the floor.

They wanted to stop me, but with Woo Yeonhoo’s word, they couldn’t.

Hmm, four stones left.

Will that be enough?

“Why does he keep pulling those out…?”

“I don’t know, don’t ask me.”

I pulled out another stone from the magic pouch and struck again and again.

They shook their heads in disbelief as I kept producing stones.

Only Yoo Jaei set her leaf down and came over, examining the stone from every angle.

She must have realized these weren’t ordinary stones and was appraising them.

“Heh, this is amazing. So that’s why.”

Her exclamation was drowned out by the sound of the sixth stone shattering.

I took out the seventh and last stone.

Ah, if this one breaks too, I’m finished.

Nervous, I smashed the final stone against the lock with all my strength.

Clang! Crack, rumble…!

[Sprout feels refreshed!]

Seeing the lock shatter, I felt just as refreshed as Sprout.

“Gasp!”

“How, how did that…?”

Shim Yunjin and Kim Jiyeon stared with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Even Woo Yeonhoo looked surprised, his eyes widening as he looked at me.

He looked as though he wanted to ask how I’d done it.

Instead of explaining, I just grinned.

He shook his head with a faint smile and muttered to himself, “I figured as much.”

Glad he wasn’t asking for an explanation.

I swept the remains of the lock off the chest and opened it.

Woo Yeonhoo’s group gathered around to peer inside.

“Is this… a potion?”

“What are these piles of junk metal for?”

“They’re not jewels… they’re magic stones.”

The chest was filled with a jumble of things.

A glass bottle with a mysterious violet liquid, a pile of unidentifiable scrap metal, magic stones filled with murky mana, the key blueprint we were searching for, and so on.

[Sprout warns that a repulsive energy is emanating from the items.]

At that warning, everyone closed the chest to avoid touching the contents.

Of course, before shutting it, I pulled out the key blueprint, which was folded into quarters.

Ignoring the others’ confusion, I unfolded it.

Sure enough, as expected of a blueprint, it showed a key.

The black part was the diagram, the white was the margin.

I couldn’t tell what it all meant, so I left it to the expert.

I handed the blueprint to Yoo Jaei.

She carefully set the stones down, dusted off her hands, and examined the blueprint.

“……?”

She frowned as she studied it.

Tilting her head slowly as if she didn’t understand.

“It’s just an ordinary key.”

“An ordinary key?”

I frowned just like her.

How could it be just an ordinary key?

I thought there was a special reason only she could make it.

“Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

At Shim Yunjin’s question, the mood turned heavy.

It was a rude question.

No expert would like to be told they were wrong.

Woo Yeonhoo and Kim Jiyeon glanced awkwardly at Shim Yunjin.

“…….”

Yoo Jaei glared at Shim Yunjin, eyes sharp.

It was the same look she gave when she’d mistaken me for Crowd.

The silent fire before charging at an enemy.

I raised my hand and gently covered Yoo Jaei’s eyes.

“…What are you doing?”

“So why is it just ordinary?”

I kept my hand there and asked.

Yoo Jaei stood still for a moment before answering slowly.

“…‘Nepa’ tail, ‘Lava Physis’ heart, ‘Striga’ brooch.”

Nepa is a scorpion monster that lives in the desert.

Lava Physis is a giant fish that lives in lava.

Striga is a witch turned undead.

They’re monsters that don’t appear in gates in Korea.

Nepa in Mongolia, Lava Physis in America, Striga in Norway, if I recall.

“And those are?”

“They’re high-grade materials even master blacksmiths can barely handle, but—”

“But?”

“There’s no need for me to be the one to make it. If you look at the blueprint—”

“I can’t tell, even looking.”

“Oh, I see. Hm, any blacksmith who can infuse mana into materials could make this. It doesn’t have to be me, so I called it an ordinary key.”

“I see…”

Nodding, I removed my hand from over Yoo Jaei’s eyes.

The fiery gaze was gone, replaced by her usual bored look.

Woo Yeonhoo and Kim Jiyeon let out relieved sighs.

Shim Yunjin just looked confused, as if she didn’t know what she’d done wrong.

A-rank Hunter or not, she was still a kid.

“I thought we’d finally learn the reason, but things are murkier than ever.”

“We’ll have to investigate further. Would it be all right if we take the blueprint and the contents of the chest to study them?”

At Woo Yeonhoo’s question, Yoo Jaei, holding the blueprint, looked at me.

She was asking for my opinion.

Pretending to think for a moment, I looked at Kim Jiyeon and Shim Yunjin.

“Have you two eaten yet?”

“…What?”

Thrown by the random question, they looked at each other and asked again.

I waited with a smile for an answer.

“No, not yet.”

The one who answered wasn’t either of them, but Woo Yeonhoo.

He must have figured out why I was asking.

Good.

I gestured outside the forge.

“Then why don’t you go eat? I’ll stay here and keep watch.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Woo Yeonhoo and I exchanged small smiles.

Then, taking the two who still didn’t understand the conversation, he left the forge.

As the sliding door closed, Yoo Jaei asked,

“I guess I’ll still need protection, right?”

I’d thought we’d have an answer once we learned the key’s true nature.

But even with the blueprint, I still had no idea why Crowd was targeting her.

In the end, with no answers, she’d still need protection.

“It’s for your own sake, so bear with it.”

“Ugh, anyone could do it, so why are they after me?!”

Yoo Jaei grumbled and ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

Then she crouched down and started picking up the broken pieces of stone.

I helped, gathering the shards with her.

“So, why did you send them away?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh? Don’t they know you carry World Tree items?”

“There’s no need to go around bragging about it, is there?”

At that, she nodded in agreement.

We tossed the gathered stone fragments back into the magic pouch.

She picked up a small piece, examining it.

“If you think about it, these are just regular stones.”

“Really?”

“Well, the point is that they’re imbued with World Tree energy. That’s why you could do what you did earlier.”

She continued to explain about the stones.

“With mana from the World Tree, you can attack the magic itself. If the stones were a bit bigger, they could probably break shield magic too.”

“Stones that could shatter shield spells…”

If stones had that much power, what if a whole boulder was imbued with World Tree mana?

Just imagining what could happen sent a chill down my spine.

[Sprout says if the caretaker wants, it can send a boulder right now.]

Huh? No, that’s not necessary, Sprout.

Even if I had something like that, I don’t need it right now.

[Sprout says it will now begin transferring the boulder.]
[3, 2….]

Wait, no—hold on—

[Sprout says it was just a joke.]

…Sprout?

Did you hit puberty just because you grew a new leaf?