Episode 423.

Raon withdrew his arms and walked into Sloth’s circle. It felt like diving into water. There was not the slightest hint of disturbance.

“Free pass.”

He grinned and looked back to see Rath’s jaw hanging open, almost touching the floor.

“It’s just a ‘welcome in’?”

-Why is this open?

Rath pursed her lips and pounded her fist on the node.

-It shouldn’t be like this, it shouldn’t open like this!

He was so flustered that he abandoned his usual dignified tone and began to whine.

-You! What kind of scam did you pull on me? Why doesn’t the system work?

“I don’t know why.”

Raon pointed to the black flower bracelet on his wrist.

“Because this bracelet has the emotion of <Laziness> embedded in it and in my soul. It’s open.”

I could feel the black flower bracelet and the sloth in my soul resonating with Sloth’s crystals.

It was Sloth who created the crystal, and the black flower bracelet and the <Laziness> in his soul were his power, so it was only natural that the crystal would not push it away.

-Uh….

Rath’s gnarled hands trembled as he examined the crystal. His narrowed eyes widened to the size of a full moon.

-You stupid sleeper! What kind of crystal did you make?

“Why, it’s good.”

Raon wagged a finger at Rath, who blushed like strawberry-flavored cotton candy.

“You really know who to reject and who to accept.”

I touched the node again. Not the slightest rejection.

The fact that Sloth, the bother of the world, had created this crystal seemed to indicate that he liked the Goblin King’s Gemstone I’d given him, and that he was welcome to come back.

-cough….

Rath blushed even more, as if he didn’t like that.

-If the Bone King finds the body, I will make sure Sloth never sleeps again, and I will never forgive him!

“You can deal with that later, and….”

Raon held out his palm to Rath.

“I’ll give you what you’ll give me.”

-Ugh!

Rath narrowed his eyes as soon as he saw the hand.

“When in doubt, don’t bet the farm. Haven’t you heard?”

-No, I haven’t, you damn cheating bastard!

He was even more upset than usual, probably because he thought he’d won the bet and then lost it.

“Well, you’ve learned today, then. Think of it as tuition and pay it dutifully.”

-Sue, tuition….

“Not the traits you don’t need, but the ones you do.”

-King Bourne “Don’t worry about that, he won’t be making the decision like he used to.

Rath mumbled something about letting the system choose, because if he did it himself, the fairness of the bet would suffer.

“He’s a strange one.

He doesn’t lie about being a demon, and he doesn’t deceive. Aside from the occasional burst of intense rage, he was a nicer guy than most.

“I’ll be waiting with pleasure.”

I waved at Rath as he flared up in anger, and climbed the last of the mountain.

There were no monsters or wildlife in Sloth’s circle, so it was an easy climb to the top.

Raon stood at the top of Mount Sterin and whistled.

“Is this the top of Mount Sterin?”

The summit was a flat, slightly sloping plateau, the entire surface white.

It wasn’t covered in snow, but frozen water, like a lake in the dead of winter.

The frozen ground was so transparent you could see through it, and the pale sunlight created a mysterious, otherworldly atmosphere.

“Where is Sloth… there he is.”

Raon smirked at the center of the frozen earth.

“He’s sleeping.

There, in the center of the ice, lay a small ball of fluff, hugging a red stone. It was Sloth.

-That fool!

Lars was still furious and punched him with a round ham fist. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

-You’ve torn this king apart again, you unhelpful sleeper!

Raon walked over to Sloth, listening to Rath’s outburst of rage.

“A baby white bear?”

With its short arms and legs, it cradled the Goblin King’s gemstone.

However, it was a little different than a normal white bear, with two candy-sized horns sprouting from its head and a black star on its chest.

“Is this Sloth?

Even though I could feel the aura of <Laziness>, I doubted that it was really Sloth, as his appearance was so different from what I had seen before.

-Don’t you know it by looking at this stupid expression, it’s Jjamtang!

Rath frowned, pointing at Sloth as he happily licked his lips again.

Raon smirked and nodded.

“I have a feeling.

As he listened, he looked closely at Rath’s face, and his expression mirrored Sloth’s when they’d met at the city walls.

“Sloth.”

I called his name in his rounded ears, but he didn’t stir.

“Sloth, wake up!”

I kept calling his name, but he didn’t even stir.

“Isn’t he dead?

-He won’t wake up for a while.

Rath pulled his hand away from Sloth, breathing hard.

“Why?

-There are two kinds of sleep, light and deep, and when a creature sleeps, it cycles between them, and this one is in deep sleep.

‘Then we can wait for the shallow sleep to come. It won’t be long.

-A normal human, or demon, would repeat every 90 minutes, but this guy….

The creature looked down at Sloth with a pathetic expression.

-Because it’s in years.

“Uh…?”

Raon’s mouth dropped open. He was so flustered that the words came out in a raised voice.

“He’s a year?

-Yes. Roughly speaking, it would be next year.

Rath shook his head, saying it would never happen in this state.

-You got in, but in vain.

His mouth curled up in relief.

“Is that true?

-If you don’t believe me, shake me, hit me, but no amount of shouting will make a difference because I’m deaf.

“And if he gets up and makes a scene?

-You will never wake Sloth with your paltry force. His recovery is faster than your attack.

Rath scoffed, saying that by the time Sloth woke up, he would be under attack and in fear for his life.

“Oh, no….

Rath rarely lies. If he said it out loud like that, it was probably true.

-Even if by some stroke of luck you wake Sloth now, he won’t recognize you from his deep sleep and will run wild and stomp on you.

“Is there nothing we can do then?

-Nothing but to wait.

“What kind of sleep is this?

He was surprised to learn that the time of sleep was not a year, but that the intervals between deep and light sleep were years.

-Hence the sloth. All Sloth cares about is sleeping, and he doesn’t care if other demons sell his name as long as he gets a good night’s sleep.

Rath told me that there were many lesser demons in the old world who sold Sloth’s name.

“Hah….”

Raon grabbed Sloth’s shoulders and shook him.

“Wake up!”

“…….”

But Sloth didn’t move an inch, maintaining his happy expression.

“Shall we take this?

I tried to pull the Goblin King’s gemstone out of his hand, but it wouldn’t budge like it was stuck in the ground.

“Even in this form, is he still a demon?

Even though I’m using all my superhuman strength, I can’t take the gemstone from the baby bear, so I guess I didn’t get the title of demon king for nothing.

“Hah….”

Raon sighed and put down the sloth.

“I can’t really hit him.

Rath had said it was fine, but to come to him for a favor and then slam his sword down was insane, to say the least.

-This is an impossible task, unlike the last one. Why don’t we go back and get some pineapple pizza?

‘Pizza….’

At the mention of pizza and a culmination, I realize there’s only one option left.

“Just in case.

I decided to use sloth, just as I had done with Sloth earlier.

Gooooooo!

I drew on the energy of sloth that was clinging to the bottom of my soul, as if to summon up my anger at Rath.

As the emotion of <Laziness> rises through my soul, my entire body becomes languid.

I felt helpless, not wanting to do anything, with the faint sensation that if I closed my eyes, I would fall asleep. This was the pure power of sloth.

The hand that lifted him up grabbed Sloth’s shoulder.

Hwaaaaah!

Sloth stirred slightly as the two of them met.

“Uh…?”

But it wasn’t the direction Raon wanted.

“Heh….”

Sloth smiled a little wider and fell deeper into sleep. It was a blissful expression.

-Kheeheehee!

Rath grabbed his round belly and burst out laughing.

-If you add idleness to idleness, it’s just more idleness.

He snorted, as if the world wasn’t already your oyster.

“I don’t know.

Raon gritted his teeth and sprawled out on the clear ice.

‘I’m going to sleep until he wakes up!

-The asshole. Waiting here for a year….

Rath was about to sneer again when a message popped up.

[You have won your bet with <Fury>].

Raon looked at the message and lifted his chin.

‘Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.’

-Holy shit, why give it to me now!

* * *

The swordguy laid a hand on Muston’s forehead and lowered his eyes.

‘He’ll be up soon.’

Muston still hadn’t recovered from the mental shock of being beaten by Raon.

However, with the advanced elixir and the auror’s help in releasing the elixir’s energy, his body had recovered well enough that he should wake up soon.

‘Fortunately, there shouldn’t be any after-effects.

After two days of nursing, there were no after-effects on Muston’s body.

Thanks to the elixir’s energy, if he were to get up, he would be able to move immediately.

‘That was a good hit.

It’s easier to kill, and to beat someone this badly and not leave any after-effects, it’s not enough to say that it’s amazing.

“Maybe he’ll wake up now.

Muston had gotten his ass handed to him by a much younger Raon, so he should have gotten his act together.

“Get up.”

A small groan escaped Muston’s lips as the swordsman maneuvered the auror to free his body once more.

“Mmmm….”

It’s Muston. He opened his eyes slowly, like a turtle.

“Here, here….”

“The hospital room.”

“Master?”

“Are you all right?”

Swordguy removed his hand from Muston’s forehead and looked into his eyes. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with his mind.

“Shi, I’m not seriously ill.”

Muston’s cracked voice hurt a little, but there was something he needed to say now.

“Do you remember what you did?”

“Ah….”

Muston’s mouth opened as he remembered losing to Raon.

“Sin, I’m sorry, I lost again….”

He bit his dry lips and ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m so sorry for bringing a stain on Master’s name….”

“It’s not that.”

Sword Guy shook his head.

“Do you regard me as your master?”

“Mu, of course!”

“As you cherish me, so must Rimera be cherished by Raon. If you value your Master, you value others. You have said something you should not have said.”

“Ah….”

Muston’s eyes fluttered like a sailboat in a storm.

“You were as important to me as they were to you, but you were led in the wrong direction. I should have used humanity first, not force, my mistake.”

“Ss, Master….”

“You’ve recovered well, and you’re awake, so the first thing you do when you wake up is apologize to Raon and Limerick. I will come with you as your teacher.”

The swordsman patted Muston on the shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

“This is the internal medicine Raon left behind. Your wounds are not yet healed, so you should finish eating.”

He dropped the gloves Raon had left on the bedside table.

“You should be grateful for Raon’s care. You really could have died this time.”

“…….”

Muston bit his lip as he looked at the swordsman without answering.

“Rest.”

Gum Gui left the hospital room, wishing him well.

“Whoa….”

He leaned back against the wall in front of the hospital room and sighed.

“I’m sorry, but it had to be said.

Muston wished he hadn’t brought up Raon’s words and just worried about him, but if he did, he’d be setting himself up for more of the same.

He needed to drive the wedge in now to keep his apprentice’s spirit alive.

“Raising disciples is hard.

Swords with enemies or not, raising a disciple was hard.

I almost admired Remer and Sylvia Sieghardt for raising the younger Raon so well.

Swordguy wiped his forehead as he left the duty station.

“I’m tired.

He was feeling a little dizzy, whether it was from running aurors for two days to heal Muston or from being bitter with his apprentice.

“You should get some rest.

He glanced back at Muston’s room, then headed for his quarters.

* * *

Muston stared blankly at the ceiling for over an hour after the swordsman left his room.

Food and medicine were brought in, but he didn’t even bother to look at them.

‘Raon. Another raon. As soon as I wake up, I have to hear that bastard’s name again.

The first thing Sword Guy said was, “Are you okay?” but he forgot about that and thought only of Raon and the scolding.

Cadaverous.

Muston gritted his teeth until it sounded like steel twisting.

‘Why on earth would….

Why would you say such a thing!

If you’re a master, you should be worried about your disciple waking up from a one-sided beating, not admonishment and bruises. It was incomprehensible.

“He’s changed because of him.

Originally, the master didn’t care about others, only himself.

My fists clenched as I watched him prioritize Raon over everyone else.

“Why do you love Raon Siegfried so much?”

The feelings of jealousy that had been crushed by Raon’s violence and fear resurfaced. It burns stronger than before, fanning the flames.

“I am the chosen one!

She had been recognized as the second most talented person in Lian and had been allowed to become a Sword Demon disciple, but now that she thought he wasn’t looking at her, she felt sick to her stomach.

“Damn it!”

Muston pushed himself up. His whole body ached, but it wasn’t unbearable. He changed his clothes and went out through the window.

It was still early in the morning, so there weren’t many people on the streets. I staggered up to the ramparts.

I stumbled up to the top of the wall and saw a snowy field as white as a sheet of paper.

“Ugh!”

Gritting my teeth, I leapt down to the snow. Scouts and knights called out to me from behind, but I didn’t pay them any mind.

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!”

I’m jealous.

More than anyone else in the world, I was jealous of Raon Siegfried.

He was jealous of Raon Siegfried more than anyone else in the world… of his fame across the continent, of his two names, Sword Ears and White Sword Dragon, of his Master’s genuine attention. Everything made him jealous, and he couldn’t stand it.

Unable to contain his growing jealousy, Muston stomped the ground violently.

Strength surged through his limp legs like a dry twig, and breath filled his parched lungs.

The green flame in his chest grows, energizing his entire body.

Just like before the fight with Raon. No, it’s more like a surge of energy.

Koo-koo-koo!

I couldn’t control the emotions and power surging inside me. I felt like my body was going to explode if I let it, so I focused on running.

I don’t even know how long I ran. I was running so fast I could barely see, but it still wasn’t enough to calm me down.

“Shit!”

I’m jealous of Raon Siegfried.

I wanted to take it all away from him: his name, his fame, his power, his master’s attention.

“I am jealous of you. Raon Siegfried!”

For the first time, Muston uttered the word jealousy.

“I will use all the means in the world to take what you have, and I will never let go!”

The moment he spoke those words, the energy that had been building up in his throat exploded.

Boom!

An enormous, uncontrollable force began to radiate outward.

“Uh…?”

But it wasn’t his own power.

“What is it?

A green blade-like thing shot out in front of him, twisting and opening up space.

Crackle!

In the dimension where green and black light mingled, an unearthly presence surged forth.

An evil aura that I had never felt from my master. It was a magnificent soul wave that could only come from Lin Zhu.

Koo-koo-koo-koo!

When Muston stopped trembling, a deep green glow flashed from the torn space.

“That’s quite the <Jealousy>.”