Chapter 57

[Astrology - Soul Summoning begins.]

With the notification, darkness fell around Vanetsha. Only she and Woojin remained in the space, with nothing else visible.

SHUFFLE!

Cards burst from inside her robe and scattered through the air. She selected several of the drifting cards and laid them on the table, where they began to glow.

“Grosh Jamil.”

She spoke the name as she laid a lock of cut hair on the glowing cards.

'She already had everything ready.'

Seeing that she had Grosh’s hair, Woojin gave a scornful smile.

WHOOSH!

The hair burned with blue flames, and a man appeared in the smoke rising between the cards.

[Grosh Jamil’s soul has been summoned.]

[You may ask three questions.]

[Once the soul has finished answering, it will be completely annihilated.]

“Um...”

Vanetsha watched Woojin’s face, thoroughly cowed.

“Me...! Who killed me?!”

The summoned Grosh began thrashing about and screaming.

“Bring me the bastard who killed me! Right now!”

“Calm down. I’ve already killed the person who killed you.”

“... What?”

Grosh looked at Woojin.

“There’s something I want to ask you. You seem to know something about the black fog.”

Grosh’s face twisted at his words.

“Is that why... they killed me?”

“It was an accident. I only went there to ask for your help.”

“That’s the same thing! Those bastards killed me because of you!”

“No. If you want to blame whoever was behind it, it would be that woman, not me.”

“... What? Huh?”

Vanetsha stammered in bewilderment as Woojin pointed at her.

“If you want, I’ll kill her too.”

“... You mean that?”

“Of course.”

“Keep your promise.”

“W-wait!”

“So I’d like you to answer me. I promise to do everything I can.”

Woojin spoke to Grosh as he clamped a hand over the squirming Vanetsha’s mouth.

“What do you want to ask me?”

“Were you, by any chance, a crewman aboard the Lady?”

[This is your first question.]

One of the glowing cards burned to ash.

“Yes. I was a crewman aboard the great Lady. A blessed ship under Captain Harterwin’s command...! If only the captain... hadn’t gone into that damned black fog...”

Grosh’s eyes widened at Woojin’s question, and he nodded frantically.

“I should have stopped him... I should have stopped him from going home...! I’m sorry... Captain! In the end, you couldn’t overcome the curse!”

Grosh clutched his head in anguish.

'... Home? A curse?'

Woojin committed each of his words to memory as he prepared his next question.

“What did you mean just now by home and a curse?”

[This is your second question.]

Another card disappeared.

“The captain used to say it all the time. That his family was cursed. And the day before he disappeared, he told us he had to go home.”

Woojin flinched. Grosh’s voice had changed as he spoke those last words.

“Then tell me how to get to the black fog.”

[This is your final question.]

“Are you insane? You want to go to that horrible place?”

“Just tell me how to get there.”

“... I don’t know either. The captain left without even telling us. If anyone knows how to reach the black fog, it would be his son.”

'His son?'

Woojin wondered if the son he meant was the boy mentioned in Kerga’s post.

“Before he left, the captain told us this.”

Grosh looked at Woojin with empty black eyes.

“Blood is thicker than water.”

WHOOSH!

As the last card burned, Grosh’s soul began to burn with it.

“A-aaargh!”

[The soul has been completely annihilated.]

[This soul can no longer be called forth through summoning.]

The dark space flipped in an instant, returning them to the building.

“You... You’re planning to go to the black fog?”

“What if I am?”

“Don’t tell me you got that ship? The one even Kerga gave up on because he couldn’t get it?”

Anyone who lived here was bound to know about the Lady.

“I can’t believe it. I thought befriending that cantankerous gnome was impossible...”

'Oh...! That’s it. He cleared the Ice Cave, so he must have saved Charlson’s son. That’s how he befriended him!'

People like her could never have received a quest from Charlson in the first place, but Vanetsha had no way of knowing that. She could only seethe with envy.

“Haha, I knew it...! I was right. You wouldn’t have acted without something to back you up!”

She hurried to Woojin’s side and began fawning over him.

“Take me with you. I’ll definitely be useful. Astrologers have a skill called Ask the Heavens. It’s a pathfinding skill used to escape maze-like dungeons.”

She eagerly tried to sell him on her abilities.

“You heard Grosh, didn’t you? You can’t find your way in the black fog. You’ll definitely need my abilities!”

But Woojin’s gaze remained cold.

“Sorry, but I’m rather good at keeping promises.”

“What?”

Vanetsha’s eyes wavered.

WHOOSH!

At that instant, an arrow pierced her forehead.

“I have no intention of working with someone who drew a sword on me first.”

Woojin spoke as he watched Vanetsha’s fallen corpse turn to ash and disappear.

* * *

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Just as the community post had said, there was a brown-roofed building toward the back of the square. When Woojin knocked, the door opened.

“... Who is it?”

Inside stood a boy who looked about high-school age.

“My name is Khan. There’s something I’d like to ask. Are you Captain Harterwin’s son?”

The boy’s eyes trembled at Woojin’s question.

“I-I have nothing more to say!”

SLAM!

With that cold response, the boy shut the door in his face.

“Hmm. This is a little different from Kerga’s post.”

Woojin scratched his forehead, glancing sheepishly at Ruen after the door slammed shut.

'The post clearly said the boy asks people to take him to the black fog... '​

Yet the boy seemed to be running away at the very mention of it.

Perhaps circumstances had changed. Kerga’s community post was several years old, after all. In [Evil Tale], NPCs changed with time, just as players did.

“I know you’re listening. I don’t know what’s happened to you since then, but Grosh told me something. He said your father went to the black fog.”

There was no reply from behind the door, but Woojin continued.

“Charlson said your father sailed out as though something had possessed him. But your father’s ship doesn’t smell of death. He might still be alive.”

CREAK.

Just then, the closed door opened. The boy eyed him suspiciously and asked,

“Don’t lie to me. How can you be sure my father isn’t dead?”

“Because death leaves traces.”

“Whoa!”

As Setsuna appeared, the boy stumbled backward in surprise.

“I can smell death’s scent. The scent of the dead. If your father had died in the black fog, that scent should have clung to the ship.”

“But it wasn’t there.”

“He might still be alive!”

“Y-you’re lying...! It’s already been five years since Dad left! There’s no way he’s still alive!”

Unable to contain himself any longer, the boy shouted.

“... What?”

Woojin sensed something was off.

“You haven’t seen for yourself.”

“... What?”

The boy hesitated.

“So let’s go and find out for ourselves whether he’s alive or dead,” Woojin told him.

“We’re taking the Lady to the black fog.”

DING.

Just then, a notification sounded.

[You have met all hidden conditions.]

[1. Permission to sail the Lady]

[2. Meeting with Grosh]

[3. Informing Captain Harterwin’s son of your departure]

[You have discovered a quest.]

[Quest Name: Conquering the Black Fog]

▶ Grade: A

▶ Find the whereabouts of Harterwin, who vanished as a sacrifice to the black fog.

▶ If you are unlucky, you may face a terrifying opponent.

'A Grade A quest?'

Woojin’s eyes widened at the window that appeared before him. Even the quest for the Ice Cave, a raid dungeon, had only been Grade B.

'What on earth is in there...?'

Seeing the quest’s difficulty only made Woojin excited.

“Forget it. My dad is dead. Going there is suicide.”

The boy trembled.

“That’s strange. As far as I know, weren’t you asking people to take you there until recently?”

Woojin couldn’t understand his reaction.

“What happened to change your mind?”

“I didn’t know anything back then. But... he showed me. Proof that my dad was dead.”

“Proof...? Who did?”

The boy answered Woojin in a trembling voice.

“Kerga.”

* * *

“Hmm...”

Having returned late that night, Woojin stood on the Lady’s deck, gazing at the distant sea, now black, lost in thought.

'So Kerga is the reason the captain’s son is reluctant to go to the black fog.'

He had never expected to hear a player’s name from an NPC.

“What on earth did he show him to make him so certain the captain is dead?”

Woojin stared at the window floating before him, unable to come up with an answer.

'Before leaving for the central continent, Kerga shared what he’d learned on the community site.'

Judging by the post alone, it had seemed like information meant to help those following in his footsteps. Meeting the boy had changed that impression.

'If he posted that after making the captain’s son give up on going to the black fog... '​

Something was wrong.

He had ruined things so no one else could do it, then shared information while pretending to help? That was hypocrisy.

'What on earth was he thinking, doing something like this?'

Nothing was certain, but Woojin couldn’t shake the strange feeling of unease.

“Well, why bother worrying about it?”

Woojin began typing into the screen floating before him.

“I can just ask him myself.”

[Sending Message.]

[Recipient: Kerga]