The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-51

Shadow soldiers and armed men swept the night streets.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Get back into the building! Don’t open any windows!”

Currently, Nobira was washing away the negative energy that has built up in the city with blood and steel.

“Kuaaargh!”

“D-Do you really think you will be able to handle this? Heka will kill you all!”

“It’ll be a different story if we kill you all before that happens though.”

“H-Hol–”

Stab…

A life had met its end.

Similar things were happening throughout the city.

Though death is what gives meaning to life, there were way too many people dying in vain in the city.

“Wolf… Krgh… You came up with a few good tricks this time but what do you think about backing off now?” said Doju.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because Heka will be coming soon. He’s coming to tear your head off from your body for biting me, hahaha…”

“I already know that. That’s why I’m in a hurry.”

“......”

Doju looked for ways to escape from this situation but wherever he looked, there was someone blocking his way.

And if there weren’t people, there were shadows.

“Kibo, are you still turning your dead faction members into your shadows?”

“Yeah, I still am.”

“You make me want to vomit… I feel awful for them.”

“This conversation’s already gone too long. The night’s going to be long even with you gone. Farewell.”

“St-stop it! Kraaargh…”

Slice!

The spine-chilling sound of a person’s head being separated from their body filled the dead space.

“Doju is dead. Tell it to the members of his faction and don’t kill anyone who surrenders.”

“Understood!”

“Now… is it only Heka left…?”

“Since Heka is still alive, the real plan starts now.”

“Exactly. Don’t relax just yet, we need to find out exactly what moves Heka has made. First, let’s rendezvous with Shur.”

Blood flowed throughout the city.

It was undeniably a cruel sight but no one showed sympathy to the tyrant’s death.

Kibo, despite all the commotion, was successfully able to rendezvous with Shur.

And here, Kibo’s first prediction was wrong.

‘Heka should have aimed for us before we were able to rendezvous… so why didn’t he show up?’

Either he was confident to the point that he was arrogant, or… he was in a situation where he couldn’t fight right away.

Kibo then suddenly thought of the mission he gave Mira before the Wolf’s Night started.

He sent Mira to a bar after hearing that Heka and Seol were fighting there. And ever since sending her there, he has heard absolutely nothing.

“What happened…”

“Kibo, so you were fine.”

“Ah, you as well.”

“I heard that you killed Hoju. Now I guess all that’s left is Heka.”

“Just because he’s wild doesn’t mean that he’s stupid. I’m sure that Heka’s preparing for battle, and then…”

And then…

The two felt that something was off and instantly turned to look at a person who was approaching them.

“Kibo! Mira is back!”

“Mira is?”

“Yes! B-But…”

“What happened?”

“I think you should see this yourself.”

Step… Step…

A weak gait.

It looked as if the person walking toward them had lost their meaning.

Someone… was walking toward Kibo.

“Mira!”

“Kibo…”

“You were safe, that’s such a relief.”

“Kibo, you know…”

Mira bit her lips and hesitated from saying something.

Kibo patiently waited for her to speak. He knew that if someone as hot-tempered as she was hesitating to say something, it had to be just as important.

“Fuuu…”

Raise…

With a sigh, Mira put forth her hand. Along with whatever hung underneath it.

‘A head?’

A person’s head was nothing to be surprised by here. The city was filled with decapitated heads after all.

Even so, Kibo was surprised.

“...Isn’t this Heka?”

“Yeah.”

“He died? How? Did you help him?”

Mira shook her head.

“He was like this when I arrived.”

Thud…

Kibo dropped to one knee.

“Kibo!”

“I’m fine, I was just way too shocked. Did he do it?”

“It could only be him. When I arrived at the bar, he was waiting for me with Heka’s head on the table.”

Kibo closed his eyes.

“In the end, the lion has been swept away by the storm.”

- He’s probably going to be the most important storm in this upcoming battle. We just have to hope that the storm hits the lion’s faction and not ours.

Everything after that ended in a flash.

Shur and Kibo’s forces took the defeated soldier’s lives and hopes.

The ruin hunters called this night the ‘Wolf’s Night’ and gathered under Kibo and Shur.

Shur gave the majority of the achievements to Kibo. After all, Kibo was the biggest reason he was able to stay alive through this horrific night.

And with that, the power dynamic in Nobira had completely shifted. The scattered forces all solidified with the wolf at the center.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

And now, Kibo, who had become the leader of all of the ruin hunters in Nobira, was out at a secret location with Mira.

They were waiting for somebody.

“Kibo.”

“What is it?”

“Is it really okay to spread rumors that you’re waiting for someone here?”

“It’s completely fine. Who would even believe it?”

Even if someone spread rumors that Kibo was waiting for someone, no one would take it seriously. Rather, they would think that the person who said that had lost their mind.

It was because, currently, everything in Nobira was in Kibo’s hands.

The fact that someone like him was waiting for someone else was just a poor joke.

Knock, knock.

“I’m here,” spoke a voice beyond the door.

“Ah, yeah,” replied Kibo.

Before Kibo’s subordinate opened the door, he quietly relayed a message to Mira while tidying his clothes.

“I want you to be quiet today.”

“I’ll judge for myself. I can also tell a thing or two, you know?”

“Haha, suuuure…”

“Hehe.”

There was a smile on their faces, as expected from people who had their worries disappear.

However, as one person stepped through the door, their smiles quickly changed to tension.

Creak…

“It feels like I’m seeing you guys often.”

The person who entered through the door was Seol.

He looked a bit tired but still exuded immense pressure.

Kibo quickly stood up and welcomed him.

“Welcome, have a seat.”

As Seol took a seat, the seat glowed a golden hue and was filled with strange decorations.

“This seat is a bit much.”

“Haha… this is the exact opposite situation of when we first met.”

Kibo, remembering when he sat down in the decorative chair in Seol’s outbuilding, let out a laugh.

Kibo watched Seol, hoping for Seol to talk first. Seol, noticing that, spoke. “It was a trade.” Finally, the reason Seol killed Heka came out.

“As expected… then wouldn’t it have been better to accept it back then?”

- I want you to help us with our battle against Heka.

Kibo, obviously, hadn’t forgotten his request to Seol either.

“It was because I didn’t plan on getting myself involved back then.”

“Hm… hm… well, since it’s in the past and it’s a waste of time to hang yourself over the small details… What do you want?”

The price for killing Heka.

Kibo wanted to know what Seol wanted for doing it.

Seol paused for a moment before answering, “Anything.”

“Not an item?”

“As long as it can help me, anything.”

“Oho… Why do I get a feeling that I’m going to get ripped off today?” Kibo furrowed his brows.

“I noticed it already the first time we met but you really aren’t a pushover.”

“Was my request too much?”

“Not at all. If it’s a request from someone who killed my rival, nothing’s too much. In fact, I’ve already sorted out some things that you might want.”

Even though Seol had made a unique request, Kibo was generously accepting of it.

“Did you think of something?”

“Of course. It’s something that I think you’ll be really interested in.”

“You’re making me look forward to it.”

“I never thought I’d be telling someone else about this… I’d be glad if I didn’t get teased for being a light person after this.”

It must have been something difficult to say as Kibo was hesitating.

“When I was very young… Back then, I did anything for money, not just hunting ruins. I even did things that mercenaries would do like guarding, scouting, and even assassinations.”

Kibo had a glint in his eyes, as if he were pulling out his old memories from the air.

“It happened when I was going around the desert in the west. I was deployed there with my party members, and we discovered someone who was frantically running away from some people.”

“And you saved them?”

“I was young back then. My body acted before I could even think. I did get a huge scar because of it though.”

“So you were able to successfully save them.”

“They were tired after a long chase after all. Anyway, I killed them all and buried them all in the sand.”

“And what you’re about to give me now is related to the person you saved that day, right?”

“Exactly.”

Seol grew more and more interested the more Kibo talked.

‘Judging by how Kibo’s taking a long time to tell the story, it must be extremely important information,’ thought Seol as he paid attention.

“Regardless, I can’t believe the connection I made in the desert is going to be further extended like this. He told me that he received a lot of help from me and that he would pay it back someday.”

“So what are you going to give me?”

“His debt. To be more precise, I’m trying to give you the payment he promised me for saving his life.”

“Is that worth as much as Heka’s head?” responded Seol.

Kibo laughed when he saw Seol’s disappointed reaction. Almost like he had been waiting for this question from him.

“Do you… know who ‘Orgo’ is?”

“Orgo… Are you talking about… Orgo, the Blood-Drenched?”

“You’re more knowledgeable than I thought. Were you interested in this side too?”

“I heard about him for various reasons. Don’t tell me… is the person you saved related to Orgo?”

“He is Orgo’s successor.”

“Ah…”

Orgo, the Blood-Drenched.

Not only was he a blacksmith, he was also an excellent fighter.

What’s interesting is that despite the nickname of ‘Blood-Drenched’, Orgo didn’t thoughtlessly kill people.

He was called ‘Blood-Drenched’ for another reason entirely.

‘It was because of the weapons he made.’

Orgo made several weapons during his life, and everyone who got their hands on one of his weapons all inevitably painted the continent in blood.

And because of that, Orgo fell into despair before eventually disappearing from the world.

The reason that Seol knew so much about him was because…

‘I was Orgo.’

Seol could still remember the things that happened back then.

Seol had played various characters with different concepts back then and Orgo was one of the more memorable ones.

Because of his immense innate talent, Orgo would constantly make incredible items out of whatever materials he got his hands on. It was to the point that the items that he made were even better than the rewards you would get from Adventures around a similar level.

Orgo was undoubtedly an incredible character and if Seol had just kept going, Orgo’s reputation would have rivaled even the last 10 pieces he made.

But… Orgo was unable to do that.

‘He just happened to be weak mentally…’

The weapons that Orgo made fell into the hands of evil people who covered the continent in blood. That was also around the time Orgo became skeptical of other people.

Orgo had gone through a lot and it had exhausted him. In the end, Orgo was pushed mentally into a corner, making Seol agonize over what decision to make next.

Eventually, there was only one option left.

[[Would you like to give up on Orgo’s Adventure?]

1. Yes.

2. No.]

The decision that Seol had made was to let Orgo live the life that he wanted.

He believed that it was a much better fate than giving Orgo a tragic ending.

[Adventurer Orgo will now pioneer his own path and fate.]

[Though this heart-racing Adventure is over, his life will still continue.]

Orgo had started his journey as a naive blacksmith but ended it by disappearing from the world, receiving the bitter resentment of others.

‘But… I didn’t expect to hear Orgo’s name again here.’

There was a reason that Seol was delighted to hear Orgo’s name, unlike his other pieces.

Orgo was made after Seol had adapted to The World of Eternity quite a bit.

And as such, he didn’t die in vain and he even left behind a few achievements.

‘It will help me out a lot if I’m able to find his traces.’

After all, Orgo was a piece that went on a lot more Adventures than Seol.

There was another reason too though.

‘Hamun… was it? Is he still alive?’

Hamun was the name of a student he took in as Orgo.

After an entire decade, Seol was finally seeing him again.

“His name is Hamun. He doesn’t make anything anymore though. However, he did tell me that he would repay the debt. And now, after all this time, it’s gone to you,” said Kibo.

“Where is Hamun now?”

“Why do you think I brought this up?”

Seol’s eyes grew serious.

“So he’s in Nobira.”

“Yeah, Hamun is here.”